Finding Love in War
by FrozenSpark
Summary: AU- Inuyasha is a hanyou who has always been an outcast. Kagome is a miko in training that could never beat her sister at anything. Now all of that is changing. Mix that with a war brewing between humans and demons.
1. There here!

Hey all! This is my first fanfic.* watches as everyone tries to run away * COME BACK! ITS NOT GOING TO BE THAT BAD! * Pulls everyone back to his or her computers * I hope that you enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. * Holds back tears * ^_^  
  
Finding Love in War  
  
*~*~*~*  
  
Kagome, a 15-year-old miko in training, was abruptly awakened in the middle of the night by the sounds of screaming and the loud crackle of fire nearby. She ran to her window and saw many large shapes throwing torches on all of the houses, and smaller shapes using balls of light swords and arrows trying to kill the larger shapes. 'Oh no, the demons are here!'  
  
Her heart was beating madly against her chest as she padded her way down the hall, toward her twin sister's room. Her mother, her brother, Souta, and her sisters Rin, Abby, Lexie, Sky, and Sapphire were gone visiting her grandpa, so she didn't have to worry about them.  
  
When she got there she found her sister still sleeping.  
  
"Kikyo" she whispered, shaking her sister gently by the shoulders.  
  
"Wha..." Kikyo responded sleepily.  
  
"Kikyo, demons are attacking our village. We have to help!"  
  
Kikyo got up frighteningly fast and ran to her window to confirm her sister's words. Then she slowly turned her now very pale face back to Kagome and said, "We can't help. Our powers aren't strong enough, and we broke all of our arrows practicing. We wouldn't stand a chance out there! The others look like they are doing okay by themselves. We just need to get into the woods and hope that things will be okay."  
  
Kagome was about to argue when Kikyo grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the bedroom and then out of the house towards the back door, hoping beyond hope that they would not be seen. Kikyo slowly opened the door just a crack to see if anybody was out there. When she saw that the coast was clear, she motioned for Kagome to go first.  
  
"Why me first!" Kagome hissed sharply.  
  
"Because you're older"  
  
"By two minutes!"  
  
"JUST GO"  
  
"FINE"  
  
Kagome quickly opened the door the rest of the way and ran along the side of the house with Kikyo trailing her close by. They sped up into a run when they saw two things running towards them.  
  
"Kikyo! Kagome yelled frantically, getting her sisters attention, "summon your powers to get that ball of light thingy and shoot it at them, I still can't do it!"  
  
Kikyo looked frightened, but summoned a ball of light anyway, and was about to shoot it at the figures when she heard a familiar voice.  
  
"KAGOME, KIKYO, WAIT!"  
  
Kagome and Kikyo yelled in unison "SANGO?!"  
  
"Yea, it's me. SO YOU CAN STOP AIMING THAT LIGHT THING AT ME!"  
  
Kikyo put out the light, and gave Sango a slightly irritated look.  
  
"Mom told Kohaku and I that we aren't old enough to fight. She said to go and get you two and then go into the woods and stay safe," said Sango in a rather angry voice. Kagome could tell that Sango wanted to fight, but knew that she did not want to go against her mother's wishes.  
  
"Yeah, we brought our weapons just in case though," said Kohaku, who was standing next to Sango.  
  
There was a bright flash and a high pitched scream nearby, that made all of them jump.  
  
"We can talk later, let's just get to the woods now," said Kikyo in a commanding  
  
They all reluctantly followed Kikyo's instructions, and made their way to the woods.  
  
"I want to see what is going on!" yelled Kagome as they entered the tree filled woods.  
  
"No! The whole reason that we are going in here is to be safe. Staying at the edge where everyone can see us would NOT be the safest of all things. And quit yelling or some demon is going to find us." Kikyo whispered sharply.  
  
Kagome gave Kikyo a withering look, but did not retort.  
  
*~*~*  
  
Kagome, who had chosen a flat rock to sit on, looked around. Kikyo had chosen to sit against a tree, and was now sleeping like a log. Sango was sitting on her giant boomerang with her brother, who had fallen asleep. ' She must be worried, I hope her parents are all right'  
  
Kagome walked over by her and sat down next to Sango and quietly asked, "are you okay?" Sango, who had been caught up in her thoughts, jumped slightly, having been too caught up in her thoughts to hear Kagome coming.  
  
"Are you all right?" asked Kagome with concern for her best friend.  
  
"Yes, I'm fine. I know that my parents will be all right. They're strong demon hunters, as are the rest of our village."  
  
"Yea, I wish that I could have helped though. If only I had my arrows..." said Kagome angrily. "I wasted all of them practicing"  
  
"If your mom was here they definitely wouldn't have let you even think about it" replied Sango.  
  
"I know, I know. They don't think I'm strong enough yet! They probably would have let Kikyo though."  
  
Sango gave her friend a sympathetic smile. "You just have to keep practicing and you'll get your powers too!"  
  
Kagome let out a sigh. "Well, I wont be sleeping much tonight. You go to bed and I'll keep watch. Okay?"  
  
"All right" said Sango sleepily. "Night"  
  
"Night"  
  
^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^  
  
AN- Sorry if that chapter was a little boring. The story will get better, I promise! Wow, Kagome has a lot of sisters doesn't she? Does anyone know what Kagome's mothers name is? Oh, and this is going to be a Kagome/Inuyasha fic. Do you think that this should also be a Miroku/Sango fic? Review please! I love hearing what people have to say! No flames though...but constructive criticism is welcome! ^_~  
  
Review? ^_~ 


	2. trapped!

AN-HEY ALL! Sorry if the paragraphs were a little bit messed up in the first chapter. I'll try to fix that sometime!  
  
Review responses-  
  
Windsoffortune- glad you liked! I like the 'your older' thing too! I'll probably make this story a Miroku/Sango for ya! ^_^ Oh, and I like your new Inuyasha story!  
  
Bubblesbb03- Yay! You are my very first reviewer! Cool! I'm glad you liked my story! I know I liked yours! That's cool, I'll dedicate the Abby in my fic to you! Don't you feel special?! ^_^  
  
Finding Love in War  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Inuyasha ran as fast as he could. He had been trying to get away from the pack of wolf demons for over an hour, and was getting exhausted. His long silver-white hair was tangled, and had sticks and leaves sticking out every which way. His face was scratched and he had a large gash in his left arm. He couldn't stop though. He knew that if he stopped, he would have to fight an unfair battle. The wolf-demons outnumbered him greatly. There were at least twenty of them.  
  
'I can't stop! I have to keep going!'  
  
Inuyasha ran for another half an hour, and the wolf-demons were finally catching up to him. Pretty soon he found himself surrounded. The half-demon slowly grabbed the hilt of Tetsusaiga. He sighed, knowing that he couldn't use it. For some reason he had never been able to use it. He knew that it had extreme powers, but did not know how to unlock them. Letting go of his sword he slowly got into a defensive stance.  
  
A young wolf-demon with deep blue eyes and long dark hair in a high ponytail stepped to the front of Inuyasha with a huge grin across his face "So, we've finally got dog turd cornered!"  
  
"Shut up Kouga, you stupid wolf!" Inuyasha growled deep in his throat. Him and Kouga had never been on very good terms. They had known each other since childhood, and had always been bitter enemies.  
  
Inuyasha crouched low, getting prepared to attack, when Kouga suddenly sniffed the air. "Demon blood" he said simply. "Lots of it. Those stupid humans must be at it again! Let's go! We don't want to get caught up in this." And with that said he and the rest of his pack fled at top speed, leaving Inuyasha dazed by the sudden change in the wolf-leader's plans.  
  
"Stupid coward of a wolf" Inuyasha muttered as he looked around for a place to sit and rest. He smelled the demon and a little bit of human blood too, but it was far enough away that he figured he was safe.  
  
'Its probably just another fight. Someday those little fights are going to make an all out war.'  
  
Inuyasha finally found a spot that looked suitable for him to rest at the bottom of a tree. He took a step forward and his foot hit something metal. In an instant, he had his foot caught in a painful demon trap. Blood started to run down his foot where the sharp edges of the trap bit into his skin. He tried to pry it apart, but it wouldn't budge.  
  
The hanyou winced in pain as he continued to try to get the trap off of his leg. The gash in his arm that had been healing split open, and he was now getting blood all over the forest floor. 'There must be some kind of miko magic on here. I can't get the damn thing off!'  
  
Inuyasha finally gave up on trying to get the trap off and sat down. He was so tired from the running he had been doing. Although he knew that it was dangerous to sleep out in the open, he knew that he had to get some sleep to get his energy back.  
  
'Well, a little rest wouldn't hurt would it?' thought Inuyasha as he propped himself against a large tree. 'I'll be able to think more clearly when I've gotten a little sleep."  
  
~*~*~  
  
"GET UP!" yelled Kohaku, who had been trying to get Kagome up for the last five minutes.  
  
"Mmmmmmmmmm," mumbled Kagome as she turned away from Kohaku with her eyes still shut.  
  
"Kikyo says that she knows a shortcut to get out of here!" Kohaku yelled as he tried to lift Kagome off of the forest floor by her arms.  
  
"I don't want Kikyo to get her hair cut short, its fine the way it is!" Kagome said sleepily and she tried to get out of Kohaku's grasp.  
  
Kohaku let out a sigh, and let go of his grip on her arms, which made Kagome's head hit the ground. "Your hopeless"  
  
"Owwwwwww" muttered Kagome as she opened her dark brown eyes. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly and there was a slight breeze. It didn't look at all like there had just been a battle yesterday.  
  
Kagome sat up slowly, her back letting out a particularly loud pop. She looked around. "Where are the others?"  
  
"They're not far away, they just decided that while they were out here, and while you were still sleeping, they would take a dip in our wood's famous Hot Springs before we left." Kohaku replied, a small smile gracing his lips as he saw Kagome's eyes narrow in anger.  
  
"Well they could have invited me!" Kagome said angrily, staring at her dirty clothes and body.  
  
"They did! You wouldn't get up to go!" Kohaku said with amusement in his voice. "They'll be back soon though. We all want to go back and see how the battle went. Kikyo told us that she did not sense any dead souls of humans, so that's why we weren't in a big hurry to leave."  
  
"Well, I could have told you that!" replied Kagome getting a notch angrier.  
  
"Yes, yes you could have, BUT YOU WEREN'T AWAKE!" replied the boy. he knew that Kikyo and Kagome were always trying to outdo each other in their miko powers. Well, it was mostly Kagome who was always trying to outdo Kikyo because her powers weren't quite as advanced as Kikyo's yet, but her powers were still very good for someone her age.  
  
Kagome stared coldly at him. "Shut up."  
  
"Make me!" said Kohaku provokingly. His small smile turning into a large one.  
  
"Fine, I will!" replied Kagome, a smile spreading over her face also.  
  
Kagome sprung off of the ground and started chasing after Kohaku, who was an incredibly fast runner. She had kept up for quite a while, and had almost caught him once, both of them laughing wildly the whole time. But after a while, she had completely lost him.  
  
'He probably went back to camp. I may as well make my way back there.' Kagome thought as she turned around, heading toward the direction of where the group had made camp.  
  
She started walking back, but then suddenly she sensed a demon presence. She stilled, not quit knowing what to do. Curiosity soon got the best of her though, and as quietly as possible she went in the direction that she felt the presence coming from.  
  
Kagome walked for a short while before she came to a small clearing. The first thing she saw was blood. A thin layer covered the ground. Then she saw a body leaning against a tree. It had long silver-white hair and a red outfit on. Its leg was caught in a trap. 'Poor thing. Nothing deserves to be hurt and trapped like that' Kagome thought. ' They think demons are the bad ones, but who are we to do this to them? Maybe I should let him go?'  
  
She was sure that that body was the demon presence that she sensed. She quietly took a couple of steps forward. Upon closer inspection, the demon seemed to be asleep.  
  
'It's a dog-demon! And a kind of cute one at that.' Kagome thought as she saw his claws and the little dog-ears on the top of his head. 'But aren't Inu-youkai supposed to have pointy elf ears and face markings?'  
  
Kagome's eyes wondered back to the demon's ears. 'Wow! How cute!' she looked at the little fuzzy triangular ears on the top of his head longingly. 'A little rub wouldn't hurt anything would it?'  
  
She extended her slender arm out and slowly started to rub the demon's ears. 'They're so soft'  
  
Kagome was quickly ripped out of her thoughts when a clawed hand reached out and gripped her neck painfully.  
  
She gasped as she looked down and saw large golden eyes glaring at her.  
  
"Get your filthy human hands off of my ears, wench!"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
AN- Sorry for the cliffy! I love those things! Hmmmm, it may seem like Kagome and Kikyo are not that friendly with each other right now, but its only a little sibling rivalry. They still like each other deep down inside! WOW! I'm pretty sure that that chapter was longer than the last. That took me a while! I'll keep trying to make my chapters longer. I like nice long chappies!  
  
Review? ~_^ 


	3. Free

Hey all! Wow! I got so many reviews! Well, not really that much to some people, but a lot to me! I love you all! ^_^  
  
Review responses-  
  
DarkDemonMaster-It is Souta? Well, then my cousin lied to me! Thanks for telling me! I'm glad that you like my story!  
  
Windsoffortune- I'm glad that you thought Inuyasha wasn't out of character. I tried to make Inuyasha as in character as possible. I know, I am hurting Inuyasha a little bit, but he's half-demon. He can handle it. ^_~  
  
Bubblesbb03-Thanks for reviewing again! I feel so loved. I'm glad you liked my last chapter. It took me a while to finish! Yep, Kagome loves his ears! Who doesn't?  
  
JoJo10-Yay! I'm happy that you like my story. * Shines with pride * I updated! ^_^  
  
Demonboiluver- I knew you would like it. Maybe you should try writing fanfiction! Its loads of fun! I updated for ya!  
  
Well, here we go!  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"That had to have been the best bath that I have ever had!" Sango said happily as she and Kikyo reached the spot that they had made camp a while ago.  
  
"Yes, it was quite enjoyable." replied Kikyo with a small smile gracing her lips. "Were going to have to do that again."  
  
Sango looked around the place that they had slept last night. There was no sign of her brother or her best friend.  
  
"KOHAKU! KAGOME! HELLO?! They probably went back without us, even though you said that you knew a shortcut. How rude"  
  
"Well, we had better be getting back too, the village will need us to help clean up the mess". Kikyo said as she scanned for her sister one last time, and then felt something tug at her senses. "I sense a demon presence. The presence is dull, but I can still feel it."  
  
"Well, duh! Did you forget the fact that there was a big battle yesterday that involved demons?" Sango said, stating the obvious with a large grin on her face.  
  
Kikyo scowled at Sango. "Never mind. Let's just go."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome, to say the least, was extremely scared. She quickly removed her hands from the hanyou's ears. Her eyes were watering from the tight grip that the demon had on her neck. She stared fearfully into the dog-demons honey-golden orbs.  
  
"Were you the one who set this damn trap!?" snapped Inuyasha angrily. "You probably think it's so funny to trap demons here don't you?! Well, I'll show you what's funny!"  
  
Inuyasha lifted her a foot off of the ground. Kagome's face was turning purple from lack of oxygen. Her survival instincts kicked in, and she did the only thing possible. She slammed her knee into his face, Hard.  
  
Inuyasha dropped her and put his hands over his bleeding nose. "Son of a bitch!"  
  
Kagome landed on the forest floor with a loud thump. Rubbing her neck gently she looked up at the very angry hanyou. She glared at him. 'How dare he? He deserved what he had coming to him. Jerk!' Kagome then looked down at the trap that still had the dog-demons leg caught painfully in it. Her eyes softened a bit.  
  
"Look. I didn't set that trap okay?" muttered Kagome as she stood up, backing up just enough so that the demon couldn't grab her again and dusting her blue and white kimono off, getting a little braver. "So I think that an apology is in order."  
  
Inuyasha stared at her incredulously. "You just broke my nose wench! What the hell should I apologize to you for?!"  
  
"My name is not wench! Its Kagome! And you should apologize to me for almost killing me!" said Kagome angrily, her eyes blazing.  
  
"Keh" Inuyasha grunted, removing his hands from his nose. "Whatever!"  
  
Kagome looked back down at the hanyou's caught and injured leg. 'That must hurt. Should I remove it? It would be easy, it's only simple miko magic. I can't just leave him like this.'  
  
She made up her mind and moved forward, reaching out for the trap.  
  
"What the hell? What are you doing wench?" asked Inuyasha, looking down on the miko warily and preparing to strike her at any given moment.  
  
Kagome's blood began to boil at being called wench *again *, but she still reached out for the trap. The miko in training touched the side of the cold metal youkai trap, and it instantly sprang open, releasing the half-demon's leg.  
  
Inuyasha's eyes widened. 'Did she just help me, a half-demon, who just about killed her?'  
  
Kagome smiled at the demon in amazement. "Well, um... What's your name?"  
  
"I-Inuyasha" he said, looking up from his leg and stared into Kagome's dark brown orbs.  
  
"Okay, well Inuyasha, I have to get going now." said Kagome, a smile still on her face. "Maybe we'll see again. Bye"  
  
With that said, Kagome turned around and started to make her way back to camp.  
  
"Bye" Inuyasha whispered so softly that Kagome wasn't able to hear.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
'Where did everyone go? They probably went back home! They left me!' Kagome thought as she looked around that she and the others had slept last night.  
  
She sighed and turned to the direction that would lead her to her home. 'May as well get going'  
  
"KAGOME!"  
  
Kagome looked around wildly for the person who had just called her name. She heard some bushes rustle, and saw a very dirty-looking Kohaku come out.  
  
"Kohaku, what happened to you?" Kagome asked as she looked over his dirty clothes. "Your moms not going to be happy when she sees what you did to your clothes."  
  
Kohaku just shrugged and smiled. "I think that Sango and Kikyo left. All of their stuff is gone. If we hurry we might be able to catch up with them!" he said as he started to leave.  
  
"Okay," she said, jogging to catch up to the boy. "I want to get home and see how the battle went. My mom should be home too! I hope she got me something on her way back from grandpa's!"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Were here!" Kagome told Kohaku as they entered their village.  
  
"This place looks horrible." said Kohaku softly. It truly did look bad. There were arms legs, and heads of demons still lying about. Rocks and Wood were everywhere, but fortunately almost all of the houses survived the attack.  
  
Kagome looked over the village with sad eyes "Your right." she said turning to Kohaku, her mouth forming a small smile. "But we can fix that!"  
  
"KAGOME! KOHAKU! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!" yelled Sango, who had been looking for them in the village for the last hour.  
  
"I could ask you the same question!" Kagome replied, glaring at her friend. "First you leave me to go take a bath, and then you leave me again to go back to the village!"  
  
"No! You left me!"  
  
"DID NOT!"  
  
"DID FREAKING TO!"  
  
"DID NOT!"  
  
"DID T— Oh never mind!"  
  
The two girls broke out in a fit of giggles. Kohaku just rolled his eyes.  
  
"Hey, Sango, have you seen my mom? She should be back today," asked Kagome when she had finally stopped laughing.  
  
"Yea, I saw her, and the rest of your family. Just to give you warning, your mom just got your sisters new dolls, and they're looking for you to play one hell of a game of house."  
  
"Oh goody!" muttered Kagome sarcastically. "Well, I'd better be getting home. I'll be out soon to help clean."  
  
"All right," replied Sango. See you later"  
  
"Later!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
AN- I keep updating sooner than I expect myself to. That's good for you guys! You get a chapter like every other day. That's bad for me because I'm doing this instead of my homework! ^0^ Oh wells. This story is probably going to have quite a few chapters in it. I'm thinking like 15-20? More? I'm not quite sure. Oh, we'll all get to meet Miroku in the next chapter! Aren't you all so excited? HOPE SO! ^_^  
  
Review? ^_~ 


	4. The Gift

AN- Sup homies? ^_~ I hope that everyone had a good weekend. I did, but it was way too short! Gah! O wells. Hope you all like this chappy.  
  
Review responses-  
  
Kesperlis-I updated! Glad you like the story! ^_~  
  
Bubblesbb03- I'm happy that you liked my chappy! (^_^ That rhymed ~_~) I was hoping that I got all of the personalities right. I'm glad you think so.  
  
JoJo10- yahoo! Lol! Glad you liked! ^_^ I finally got my next chapter up! Aren't you so proud! ~_^  
  
DarkDemonMaster- Heres the next chappy!  
  
Demonboiluver- Hey Lyndsay! I hope you like this chapter! I worked extra hard!  
  
I kinda need to tell you all the ages of the characters in this story, so here we go!  
  
Kagome & Kikyo-15 Inuyasha-17 (in human years) Sango-15 Kohaku-13 Rin-5 Lexie & Abby-4 Sky-8 Sapphire-11 Souta-13 Miroku-19  
  
ON WITH THE STORY!  
  
Oopse! I forgot the disclaimer in the last chapters. I guess I just don't find them necessary. Oh well. I do not own Inuyasha. -_-;;;  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Okay! Now Kagome is the mommy, My dolly and me will be the daughters, but I'm the favoritist daughter." Rin chirped happily. "And the rest of you are the peasants who try to take me away, but Kagome saves me"  
  
"No!" yelled Sky, Her light blue eyes flashing with anger. "That's not fair! I wanna be the daughter!"  
  
"We want to be the daughters!" whined Lexie and Abby in unison as they ran around the room with their new dolls, their identically long, curly, deep brown hair bouncing with every step that they took.  
  
"I don't even want to play this stupid game. It's for babies." muttered Sapphire, her honey-brown orbs watching with amusement as she began to hit her new doll's head against the chair.  
  
Kagome stared at her siblings with a tired look. 'Why me?' She thought as she stood up, getting up off of her large, and rather comfy chair. "All right! That's enough! You can all be my daughters, and Sapphire, if you don't want to play then just leave! I don't have very much time to play! I have to go help clean up, so lets make this quick okay?"  
  
The big living room was quiet for a moment. Then all of Kagome's sisters burst out in a fit of giggles. Kagome soon joined them, and the giggles turned into loud laughter. By the time they had finally settled down Ms. Higurashi came in.  
  
"Hello Kagome. I've got something for you!" She said as she held up a small box wrapped in cloth. "I think that you will like it."  
  
Kagome walked across the room to retrieve the box from her mother's palm, her small bare feet tapping against the red, shiny hardwood floor. She took the present from her mother's hand, and looked at her mother with questioning eyes.  
  
"Open it," commanded her mother with a childishly happy look on her face.  
  
Kagome slowly undid the crimson red cloth, and opened the small wooden box. Then she gasped, her dark brown eyes widening. Inside the box was a beautiful necklace with a long golden chain with a small round pink-violet jewel on it.  
  
"Wow," Kagome said, her voice barely above a whisper. She slowly lifted the necklace out of the box. The light from the window hit it and it made it look even more stunning. "Where did you get it?"  
  
"Its kind of a funny story actually," replied her mother sitting down on the couch, and motioning for Kagome to do the same.  
  
"Ooooh, A STORY!" exclaimed Sky as she jumped on Kagome's lap.  
  
"YAY!" yelled Abby as she Lexie and Rin crawled onto the couch.  
  
"Oh joy," muttered Sapphire unenthusiastically, but she sat down in a chair near the couch anyway.  
  
Ms. Higurashi chuckled a bit as Rin snuggled into her lap. "Okay, it starts out when your grandpa was out bathing," She started.  
  
"EWWWWWWWW!" exclaimed Abby and Lexie. "Gross!"  
  
"As I was saying," She continued, sending her youngest daughters a reproving looks. "Your grandfather was out bathing when he heard screams coming from one of the villagers. He quickly got his clothes on and went to see what the trouble was. Apparently, a very large and powerful bird demon had grabbed hold of a young boy and was flying off with him,"  
  
Sky gasped. "Oh no! Poor Boy"  
  
Ms. Higurashi smiled at her sympathetic daughter. "So your grandfather went and got his bow and arrow and shot at the demon. The arrow, with your grandfather's strong powers, blasted the bird apart. The boy fell into the river, but the current wasn't very strong so he was able to swim to safety. Later that day your grandfather was helping clean up the mess the demon had made when it had blasted apart. He was picking up some piece of the corpse, when he saw a light coming from inside of it. He reached in and grabbed that jewel out from it. He cleaned it and put it on a chain, and told me, that for some reason, he felt that it should go to you, Kagome" She finished.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
A few days later Kagome sat on the grass, closing her eyes and trying with all of her might to release her powers. She had been at it for about an hour, and was getting very frustrated.  
  
"You need to focus on your powers, and only your powers. Don't let anything else distract you," said her teacher in a calm voice. She had long black hair tied in a ponytail on the top of her head, and gray eyes that looked at her student with patience.  
  
Kagome's mom, who had always had a lot of money, made Kagome, Kikyo, and now Sapphire each get a miko teacher to train them since it would be hard for her to teach all of them.  
  
Kagome's face reddened. "How do I focus on my powers?! Is there a sign in somewhere in my head that says 'Here's your powers, now focus!" she asked angrily. She turned away from her instructor and looked across the hill at Kikyo who was producing a small, and rather weak, shield. It looked beautiful though. It looked like a large pink bubble was surrounding her. Her face reddened even more. 'Why can't I even make a small shield?'  
  
"Why don't we call it quits for tonight? We can work on your martial arts tomorrow. You won't have to use your powers as much. Okay?" replied her teacher softly while placing a comforting hand on Kagome's shoulder.  
  
Kagome looked up at her with sad eyes. "I'm sorry Robin, I'm just tired I guess."  
  
"It's all right. I'll see you tomorrow." Robin said while she started to gather the arrows that were used in practice.  
  
"Bye" Kagome said as she started to make her way towards a nearby creek.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome played with the small light purple jewel that was hanging around her neck as she splashed her feet in the water. 'It really is beautiful' she thought as she lifted it up to inspect it closer.  
  
Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. 'That's a demon that I sense! Oh no! I don't have my bow and arrows!' She quickly stood up and started running. It wasn't long before she was knocked to the ground by something that had come up behind her. Her foot made a loud crack as she fell on the forest floor.  
  
Kagome's eyes started to water as she tried to get up and run again.  
  
"Stay," said a masculine voice.  
  
Kagome slowly turned toward the demon. She gasped as she looked upon the most beautiful demon that she had ever seen. It was a cat demon with crystal blue eyes and long blue-white hair flowing down to its feet. He had long white claws and two pointy ears on the top of his head.  
  
"You have the Shikon," he said in a deadly calm voice. "Give it to me now"  
  
"Wha-, What's the Shikon?" Kagome stuttered.  
  
"Don't play stupid with me wench! If you don't give me the jewel of four souls I'll be forced to kill you slowly and painfully," The cat-demon said as he cracked his knuckles.  
  
"I still have no clue what you're talking about! I don't have this jewel of four souls or whatever. So I suggest that you leave me alone! I'm a miko and if you even try to touch me you'll be fried to pieces!" Kagome lied as she started scooting away from the obviously powerful demon.  
  
The demon just laughed and took a step closer. "Fine, if you wont give it to me of your own free will, then I will have to take it personally." The demon jumped and was about to slash his claws through her soft skin when he was knocked into a tree by something.  
  
Kagome, who had had her eyes closed waiting for the demons claws to sink through her skin, opened them to see a livid dog-hanyou hovering over the unconscious demon.  
  
"Inuyasha!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
An- I know that I told you that Miroku would come into this chapter, but I wasn't quite sure where to fit him in yet, so I think that I'll hopefully add him in the next chapter. Sorry. Yea, I made Kagome's grandfather actually have some powers in this story! And if you haven't figured it out yet, Lexie and Abby are also twins. ^_^  
  
Review? -_- 


	5. what is it?

AN- Hello all! How are things going? Well, I'm just bored, so I decided to write more for you all! (Although I should be getting my homework done! ^_^;;;;) Aren't you so happy? ^_~  
  
Review responces-  
  
IYEWOBluver- Thanx for reviewing! Glad u liked! Your story is getting good! It's better than mine! Bleh!  
  
Kesperlis-WOW! So many questions, so little answers. But the one bout Inuyasha stealing the jewel will be answered in this chapter. ^_^ As for the one about the jewel channeling Kagome's powers...I'm not quite sure yet, but it is a good possibility! ~_^ I updated for ya!  
  
JoJo10-'Great work' huh? Wow! I feel so honored that someone thinks that my work is great! I'll try to update fast, but school is constantly getting in my way. ^_~'' Ya, I've got some bad news, my poor puppy died. -_- Poor thing. But at least she's in doggy heaven. ^_^  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome stared at the unconscious cat-demon, her brown orbs wide in horror at what had just happened. There was a small trickle of crimson blood coming out of its mouth.  
  
"Thanks" stuttered Kagome, who just now realized that she was shaking wildly.  
  
"Keh." grunted Inuyasha while wiping the invisible dust off of his red outfit. "Whatever."  
  
Ignoring the throbbing pain in her foot, Kagome tried to stand up. She got halfway up before her foot gave another loud crack. She started to fall down when two large and strong hands caught her.  
  
"Stupid girl! You don't stand on a broken foot!" yelled Inuyasha.  
  
He felt a bit bad for her when he noticed her body was shaking. he slowly lowered her to the ground.  
  
Kagome stared unbelievingly at Inuyasha. 'Does he care whether I get hurt? Well he did save me...' Kagome shook her head to rid herself of her thoughts.  
  
"Why did you save me?" Kagome asked. She was very confused with the hanyou. Didn't he try to kill her the other day?  
  
Inuyasha's face reddened the tiniest bit. "You set me free. I saved you. Were even."  
  
"Oh." said Kagome. "Well I'm glad that you have good timing. If you weren't here, then I would have been dead. You sure did get that demon down fast though. Hanyous' usually aren't that strong are they?"  
  
Inuyasha just stared at Kagome strangely. Was she trying to make a decent conversation with him, a lowly hanyou? He had never experienced anyone treating him this way since his mother died when he was only a pup. He had always been treated as if he was the scum of the earth by demons and humans.  
  
"Ummm..." Kagome muttered when she noticed Inuyasha staring at her with a weird look on his face. "Well, never mind."  
  
The sun was setting. Its final rays of the day softly landing on the creek, making the deep blue surface shine with a golden tint to it.  
  
Kagome looked down at her foot, which was now purple and swollen. "Um, Inuyasha? Could you please give me a lift? I kinda need to get back to my village before my mom gets worried."  
  
Inuyasha was slightly startled by the request, but he didn't let it show. "I don't think that that would be a very good idea. What would your village think if they saw me carrying you?"  
  
"Good point." said Kagome. "Well, we could wait until it gets dark and then you could take me into the village, and no one would see you. But you would have to be fast, because there are a lot of miko's in the village and they could easily sense your presence if you hang around for too long. But it won't be too dangerous for you, since your only half-demon.  
  
"Whatever." said Inuyasha.  
  
They sat in a comfortable silence as they watched the sun slowly set. Kagome started messing with the jewel around her neck. 'Was this what the demon wanted? The jewel of four souls? What is it?'  
  
"Inuyasha?"  
  
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her inquiringly at her.  
  
"Do you know what the jewel of four souls is?"  
  
Inuyasha glanced at her questioningly. "Why"  
  
"Well, that cat demon told me that he wanted the jewel of four souls, and that I had it." Kagome told Inuyasha as she pointed at the unconscious demon that was twitching.  
  
"Do you have it?" asked Inuyasha unbelievingly.  
  
"I don't think so. I have this, but I don't think that it was special or anything. My grandpa gave it to me." Kagome took off the necklace and held it up.  
  
Inuyasha stared at the dark pink sphere that was supported by a golden chain. Even though it was getting dark, it was still visible. Almost like it was glowing.  
  
"I don't know much about the jewel of four souls, or the Shikon no tama, as some like to call it. All I know is that it contains great power and should never go into the hands of evil." stated Inuyasha. "I guess that this could be it, it seems to have a magical glow, but it's hard to believe that the Shikon would be in the hands of a normal miko, and not a strong demon."  
  
The sun had completely set by now. The wind was picking up, and it was starting to get cold. Kagome, who had stopped shaking a while ago, got a fresh shiver.  
  
"Well, if you could please take me home, I would be more than grateful." said Kagome with a small smile playing on her soft lips.  
  
Inuyasha found it hard to contain his grin. 'why am I even helping her?' Inuyasha thought as he walked over to where Kagome had sat herself. He crouched down put one arm behind her back, and the other under her knees and slowly picked her up. Kagome blushed deeply as she was pulled tightly into the hanyou's chest, but Inuyasha didn't notice because he had already started running toward Kagome's village.  
  
Inuyasha was at her house in only a minute.  
  
"How did you know which house was mine?" Kagome asked.  
  
Inuyasha pointed to his nose and rolled his eyes.  
  
"Oh, you could smell it!" exclaimed Kagome. "Kind of forgot about your heightened senses."  
  
"Where would you like me to put you?" asked Inuyasha awkwardly. He was sure that he had never asked that question before.  
  
"Ummm, just put me on my doorstep. I'll balance on one foot till someone comes to the door."  
  
"Fine," said the hanyou. He walked over and slowly placed her on her good foot.  
  
Kagome placed her hand on the door to help keep her balance. "Thanks."  
  
"Feh," grunted Inuyasha halfheartedly. "Bye."  
  
"Wait! Can I come visit you again?" asked Kagome excitedly. "Will you still be in the forest?"  
  
'Really?' Thought Inuyasha. 'She wants to see me again?' "I might." He said as he took off running toward the forest.  
  
"Bye" said Kagome, even though she knew he was too far away to hear.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Wake up!" yelled Lexie and Abby I unison as they started jumping on Kagome's bed, their curly locks springing everywhere.  
  
"Go away." Kagome mumbled, still half asleep.  
  
"Up!" Shrieked Abby.  
  
"NOW!" yelled Lexie, starting to jump on Kagome's back, but still being careful to avoid her sisters hurt foot.  
  
Kagome, who was more than a little awake by now, rolled onto her back smiled up at the twins. "What if I don't want to get up?" she asked teasingly.  
  
The twins giggled as they stretched their fingers out like they were claws. "Then we'll attack!" said Abby happily.  
  
"Oh no!" said Kagome in mock horror.  
  
Just then Souta came in. "Hey girls. You know you shouldn't be wrestling around with Kagome's leg being broken," he said in a deep voice that Kagome wasn't quite used to yet. It seemed like one day he was a boy running around in the mud, and the next day he was a young man standing in front of her right now.  
  
"AWWWWWW!" whined Lexie.  
  
"We were having fun!" pouted Abby.  
  
"Come on. Leave her alone," said Souta as he went over to the bed and picked up a twin in each arm. "You might want to get dressed and ready Kagome. We are expecting a visitor soon."  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome slowly walked down the stairs. Even though her foot was heavily wrapped, it still hurt with every step she took.  
  
It took her about two minutes to finally get down the long spiral stars. When she finally managed to get to the bottom there was a loud knock on the door. She slowly limped over to the door, turned the large golden handle, and opened the door.  
  
There was a young man standing out there with a large purple robe on. He was holding a staff in one hand, and had beads around the other. He gave Kagome a large crooked grin.  
  
"Miroku?!"  
  
AN-Whew! That took a while to write! I'm pretty sure that it is my longest chapter so far. I hope that you all liked! I didn't get many reviews last chapter, so I expect some nice long reviews for this chapter. ^_^  
  
Review? !_! 


	6. war

AN-Hey all of my wonderful readers! How's it going? I'm simply bored so I felt like updating for all of my wonderful reviewers. I love you all! *huggles reviewers. * ^_^  
  
Review responses-  
  
Nundu- Yea, I know that Kagome's sisters' names aren't very Japanese. *Closes eyes in shame * -_- That's due to the lack of planning that I had for this fic. If I make another one I hope to make it a little more organized and look up some good Japanese names. Let's just say that Kagome's mom was into foreign names when she named the younger ones. ^_~ I'm glad you like my fic otherwise though!  
  
Whatever! -Happy you liked ^_^  
  
IYEWOBluver- I was hoping my chapters were getting longer, just a little. ^_^ You should update your fic soon! Cant wait to see what's hapinin'!  
  
JoJo10- Your reviews always make me feel so good! I love them! It made me want to update soon! ^_^  
  
Don't own Inuyasha.....never have, never will. I forgot to put this in the last chapter. Oopse.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Hello old friend," said Miroku, his grin getting wider. "I haven't seen you in a while"  
  
"What are you doing here?" Kagome squealed. She hadn't seen Miroku in a year, and was extremely excited that her friend had finally paid a visit.  
  
"Why, I'm coming to visit my favorite female friend!" Miroku said while spreading his arms out wide, inviting Kagome for a hug.  
  
Kagome limped over and accepted his embrace. Although Miroku was known as a lecher, he never pulled anything on her.  
  
Miroku, who had noticed that Kagome had a limp, stared at his friend with concern. "What happened to your foot?"  
  
"Oh, it's nothing. I just fell. No big deal," Kagome lied. She didn't want to lie to her friend, but she was pretty sure that it wouldn't be good to say 'I got attacked by a demon!'  
  
Miroku stared into her beautiful chocolate brown eyes. He had a feeling that she was lying, but decided not to press the issue. "So, may I come in?"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Miroku, Kagome, Kikyo, Souta, and Ms. Higurashi were sitting at a table. They were so deep in conversation that their food lay cold and forgotten.  
  
"So other villages were attacked too?" asked Kikyo.  
  
"Yes, the youkai killed many people in the other villages. Its amazing that their attack here didn't even kill one person," replied Miroku. "But this village has a lot of people with spiritual power, so that is to be expected."  
  
"So, what is the Emperor going to do about this?" asked Ms. Higurashi.  
  
Miroku reached into his robes and brought out a scroll, and held it out to the older woman.  
  
She slowly opened the scroll and read it aloud.  
  
"The constant attacks on humans by various demons has made me conclude that trying to live peacefully with demons is not an option anymore. The only way to stop these vicious attacks is to rid demons of my lands. In order to do this I require a male from each household, that is at least thirteen, to join my army. My generals will be coming to each village shortly to collect the men.  
  
Sincerely, Emperor Shi"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome sat on her bed staring at the wooden ceiling. Her thoughts were still caught up in what that scroll had said. Her family did not react very well to that news. Souta had just turned thirteen last month. He would be required to go to war.  
  
'Poor Souta. He's even younger than I am, and has to go off and fight demons. Why couldn't the stupid emperor raise the age bar a little bit? Isn't thirteen a little young?' Kagome thought as she started to undo the wrap around her foot.  
  
Her foot was healing nicely with the help of her mom's herbs and powers. The bone was healing at a fast rate, and there was barely any swelling anymore.  
  
Kagome got some fresh cloth and started to rewrap her foot. She had to go out to train soon, so she tried to wrap it as quickly as possible without hurting herself.  
  
When she had finished wrapping her foot, she walked out of her room, and started to go down the stairs slowly and carefully.  
  
Miroku, who was at the bottom of the stairs, saw Kagome trying to get down "Let me help you! You look like your having a little bit of trouble."  
  
Kagome smiled gratefully as he made his way over to her. She held a hand out to him. Instead of taking the hand, Miroku picked her up and started walking down the stairs with her in his arms.  
  
"Gah! Miroku! I only needed a little help. I don't need you to carry me!" yelled Kagome.  
  
Miroku flinched a bit as she screamed right into his ear. When he got to the bottom of the stairs he slowly let Kagome down.  
  
"I was just helping out a lady in need." said Miroku as seriously as he could manage.  
  
"Whatever," mumbled Kagome as she opened the door and went outside. "I'm late! Robin's going to kill me!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
The worst thing about having a broken foot was that her training now fully consisted of her trying to channel her inner power.  
  
Ms. Higurashi had decided that since Kikyo was doing so well with it, that she could work with Kagome for a while and give Kagome and Kikyo's trainers a break.  
  
"I don't want your help!" said Kagome stubbornly. She had just found out that she was supposed to train with Kikyo, and was not very happy about it.  
  
"It's not that hard! I could summon fire a year ago!" Kikyo yelled back at her sister. She was trying to stay calm, but her patience with her sister was running extremely thin.  
  
Kagome glared at her twin "Well I'm so sorry if I'm not perfect like you!"  
  
Kikyo glared right back at Kagome. "You don't even try! You're always slacking off! I'm surprised that Robin even puts up with you."  
  
Kagome's face reddened with anger. "You know what? I DON'T CARE! I'm leaving!" She said as she got up, picked up her bow and arrows, and started walking stiffly in the direction of the stream.  
  
"Fine with me!" Kikyo screamed at her sister's back.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome's anger had dissipated slightly on her walk to the creek. She undid the cloth around her foot, and put her feet into the refreshing and cool water. She played with the chain around her neck until she felt something nibbling at her feet. She giggled when she noticed small fish had started to bite at her toes. 'I'll bring some bread or something for them next time. They seem to be hungry.'  
  
She had been sitting there for a while watching the cute fish softly bite her small toes, when she heard a noise from something in one of the trees. She quickly turned her head up and saw a red blob in one of the trees.  
  
"Is that you Inuyasha?"  
  
The 'red blob' jumped down from the tree. "It took you long enough to figure out I was here. I thought you were a miko!"  
  
"I am!" Said Kagome indignantly. "I just wasn't paying any attention!"  
  
"Sure," Replied Inuyasha, as he sat down next to her.  
  
"..."  
  
"Sooo," said Kagome, not quite sure what to say.  
  
"What?" grunted Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome asked the first thing that popped into her head. "What do you think of the war?"  
  
"What war?"  
  
"The human and demon war!" said Kagome unbelievingly.  
  
"So it's actually a war now?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
"Yea, the emperor is recruiting people for a large army to move demons out of these lands."  
  
Inuyasha didn't say anything. He just stared at the slowly running stream.  
  
"Whose side are you on?" asked Kagome curiously.  
  
Inuyasha closed his honey golden eyes. "Don't have one"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I don't have a side. I'm not a demon. I'm not a human. I can't really have a side," said Inuyasha with a slightly pained look.  
  
Kagome stared at the hanyou with sad eyes. "That's horrible. Being rejected by humans and demons."  
  
"Keh" Inuyasha snorted. "It's fine. I don't care"  
  
Kagome splashed her feet around a bit. 'Poor Inuyasha. He must have a horrible life.'  
  
"Well, I've got to go home." said Kagome awkwardly. "Same time, Same place?"  
  
"Whatever."  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
An- I know that I switch scenes a lot. It makes it a little easier to write that way. I hope that you all liked. ^_^  
  
Review? ^_~ 


	7. Robin's fired?

^_^ AN- Hola amigos! I'm having a little writer's block right now. *Hits head repeatedly * I really don't know where I'm going with this story. If I write another fanfic, I am definitely going to have an outline for the story, not just rush into it. ^_~  
  
I am horrible with technology! I got this cute new mouse with floating ladybugs in it, so I wanted to try it out. Well somehow I got something stuck somewhere in the monitor and we had to get that something out. It was horrible! It took a while before I could get back on the computer and write for all you wonderful people! ^_^ But I'm back now and ready to rock and roll! Well, I hope this chapter turns out okay. I guess that I'll just go where my fingers lead me...  
  
Thank you all of my wonderful reviewers! You inspire me so much! You encouraged me to make this chapter!  
  
Review responses-  
  
IYEWOBluver- it wasn't bad? Well that's good I think! ^_^ I'll try to stop putting my work down. I guess I'm just a perfectionist. ^_~  
  
JoJo10-glad u liked! You are too nice to me! ^_^  
  
Miko Ariko-901- People appreciate me doing that? Wow, that's kind of hard to believe. I honestly don't think that I'm a very good writer. Oh well! Hope you like this chapter! ^_^  
  
Eddie4- Wow! You like this better than all you've ever read? Wow...I feel honored! ^_^ umm...I think that I catch your meaning...but I may not. I can be slow at times. ^_~ Glad u like!  
  
Crazyazngurl- Lol! Thanks! I'm glad u like! ^_^  
  
Windsoffortune- You do seem hyper! ^_^ I'm glad you came back and reviewed for me! I thought I had lost you for a while! ^_~ Hope you like this chapter!  
  
I do not own Inuyasha. I do own Abby, Lexie, Sky, Sapphire, and Robin! ^_^ (Although they aren't very Japanese names. -_- my bad!)  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
After leaving the stream Kagome started making her way home. The sun was slowly setting. It's rays turning the sky brilliant shades of orange and red.  
  
'If Inuyasha has no sides on the war, then won't both sides be against him?' Kagome pondered. 'I can't let that happen to him, but how can I stop it? Maybe I can convince my village to let him stay and help?'  
  
Before she knew it, she was at her front door. She opened it and walked inside. Her brown orbs adjusted to the darkness of the house. There was some light coming out of the kitchen, so she decided to go and see who was in there.  
  
Her mom was sitting at the kitchen table slowly sipping her tea with a small frown on her lips.  
  
"Hello mama," said Kagome as she walked in and sat across from her mother.  
  
"Kagome....," her mom said in a low dangerous voice.  
  
Kagome stared at her mother with confusion. 'What did I do? Why does she sound so mad?'  
  
"Why did you walk out on training with your sister? She was only trying to help you!" snapped Ms. Higurashi. She watched as her daughter's eyes widened with understanding. "You have got to train! What if demons attack our village and you aren't able to get to safety?"  
  
"I don't want to train with her! Why can't I just keep training with Robin?" asked Kagome as she crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly.  
  
"You will not be training with Robin anymore."  
  
"WHAT?!" screamed Kagome. Her chocolate eyes narrowed at her mother.  
  
"You have made little progress over the last few months, so until I find you a more suitable trainer you will be training with Kikyo." said Ms. Higurashi calmly.  
  
"BUT-"  
  
"There will be no 'buts' about it! You are going to train with Kikyo and that's final!"  
  
Kagome glared at her mother. Her face was red from the boiling anger within her. Sheyearned to retort. To tell her mother that she would do worse training with Kikyo than Robin, but she didn't want to anger her mom any more than she was now. So instead she settled for leaving the Kitchen, and slamming the door on the way out.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome rolled over in her bed, trying to find a more comfortable position. She had been trying to fall asleep for the last two hours. She finally gave up, pushed the silky sheets off of her, and got out of her large bed. 'I've got too much on my mind. I think I need some tea. Maybe that will help me sleep'  
  
She padded down the stairs as quietly as she could. She still had her foot wrapped, but it didn't hurt anymore. It was just to be safe so she didn't get hurt again.  
  
When she got to the kitchen she started to warm up some water over the small fire that was still barely going.  
  
While the fire was warming up she got out a small box of tea mix. It was one of the best teas you could buy. Kagome opened the box, and slowly put her nose near it to take in the wonderful fragrance.  
  
Kagome stood there for a while, just taking in the sweet fragrance of the tealeaves.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
She jumped and nearly dropped the box. She looked over and saw her brother standing in the doorway.  
  
"N-nothing. You kind of scared me there," she said as she went to check if the water was hot enough. "What are you doing awake?"  
  
"I couldn't sleep," replied Souta. His face was serious instead of the usually carefree look.  
  
"Do you want some tea?" Kagome asked in a motherly way. She was sure that Souta was nervous about going to war. Who wouldn't be?  
  
"Yea, some tea would be good. Thanks."  
  
"Your welcome," said Kagome. She got two large cups and started to pour the hot water into them.  
  
When she had finished making the tea, Kagome passed a steaming cup to her brother. "Watch out. It's hot."  
  
Souta gave his sister a small smile before taking a large gulp of the tea. Then he slowly sat the cup down and looked Kagome in the eyes. "The general is coming in two days to collect the men who are going to war"  
  
Kagome's eyes widened in shock. 'Two days! They only sent the letter yesterday! Poor Souta! He has to go off to war at such a young age. And I was complaining about training with Kikyo...'  
  
She snapped out of her thoughts and saw her brother looking expectantly at her. His eyes were pleading for comfort and protection. Kagome scooted her chair near his, sat down, and put an arm around him in a half-hug.  
  
"It'll be all right. Don't worry."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Ms. Higurashi looked uncertainly across the table at Kagome. Kagome's lips were in a permanent frown, and she was barely eating her breakfast. 'Is she still mad at me for making her train with Kikyo?'  
  
"Look, honey, can you just try to train with Kikyo? You two really need to bond, and you could learn from each other."  
  
"Fine" said Kagome in a monotone voice.  
  
Ms. Higurashi was surprised at how easy it was to get her daughter to agree. "Are you all right dear?" she asked in concern.  
  
Kagome looked at her mother with tired eyes. "Yes, I'm fine, I just realized that it really doesn't matter that much."  
  
"Okay dear. Well, finish up your breakfast. You need to take the young ones out of the house. You could take Miroku with you too if you want some help. The maid is coming today. I don't want to have to pay extra because she had to take more time so she can work around them."  
  
Kagome nodded and went upstairs to retrieve her little sisters and Miroku. "This should be fun."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
AN- Oohhh! A perverted Miroku mixed with all of Kagome's younger sisters! How will Kagome survive? ^_^ Sorry if this chapter was a little short. It seemed longer though because I spaced things out more this time. I know I didn't have Inuyasha in this chapter * dodges keyboards and rotten fruit * Sorry! There will be plenty if Inu to come! Don't worry! I just have to build their relationship up a little more. Oh, and just telling you, Miroku is going to be staying at Kagome's place for a while, so don't worry. Him and Sango will finally meet in the next chapter! Yay!  
  
Inspiring quote of the day- "You miss 100% of the shots that you never take" ~Wayne Gretzky  
  
Review? _ 


	8. Kagome's Powers

AN- My writers block has finally left me, and I will take full advantage of it being gone! Well...I don't have much to say to ya'll so I guess that I'll get this show on the road!  
  
Review responses-  
  
IYEWOBluver-^_^ thanks! I'm really proud of this chapter!!! Hope u like!  
  
CraziAznGurl- Wowza! ^_^ Glad you like my story so much! Miroku and Sango meet in this chapter! YAY! Finally! Hope you enjoy.  
  
JoJo10-^_^ You are so awesome! Such a faithful reviewer! * huggles * Glad you liked!  
  
Eddie4-I know it was short. * Bows head in shame * Sorry. I didn't notice how short it was since I spaced it out more. I hope that this chapter makes up for it!  
  
Thoughts ' ' Words ""  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome, Abby, Lexie, Sky, Rin and Sapphire were gathered around Miroku's bed. They were all staring at him as he slept. Kagome had tried to get him up by screaming into his ear, waving food under his nose, and even pouring water on his head. None of it worked, so she did the only thing left...  
  
"Sick 'im!" she yelled. All of her little sisters, with the exception of Sapphire who was looking at the scene with a bored look on her face, jumped onto Miroku at full force. The twins started jumping on his stomach while Rin and Sky were busy tickling his feet.  
  
A low rumble could soon be heard. It startled Kagome at first, but then she realized Miroku was laughing.  
  
"So we finally got you up!" said Kagome, her Chocolate orbs sparkling with amusement.  
  
"It appears so," mumbled Miroku as he pried Rin and Sky off of his feet, and grabbed the twins.  
  
"We have to leave the house while the maid comes and cleans. So get your rear in gear!"  
  
"Fine, fine" Miroku said. He put the twins down and walked across the room to get his robes. "So where are we going?"  
  
"Mmmmm, I don't know yet. We'll just have to see when we get there," replied Kagome. She watched impatiently as Miroku slipped his purple robes over his white underclothes. "Done yet?"  
  
Miroku put his hair into a small ponytail and turned to Kagome. "Yep, lets go!"  
  
"Come on! Let's go outside. If you all are good then we might even have a picnic!" Kagome said to all of her little sisters.  
  
"Yay!" exclaimed Lexie and Abby in unison as they made their way down the stairs.  
  
"Can I help make the food?" asked Rin. Her dark brown eyes were wide in questioning.  
  
"Sure! The more help the better!" replied Kagome in a motherly way. Her mood had considerably lightened since that breakfast, and she was starting to get a little hungry.  
  
"Can I help too?" asked Sky.  
  
Kagome nodded her head and watched as Rin and Sky ran off in the direction of the kitchen.  
  
"You have a way with kids," said Miroku, who was walking alongside her.  
  
"Thanks. When I get older I want to have a lot." Kagome said, with a small smile gracing her lips.  
  
Miroku chuckled. "You'll be a wonderful mother."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
As soon as the food was made they all went outside to find a good place to have a picnic. They settled for a small patch of grass a good way away from the house.  
  
"You all can go and play while Miroku and I set things up, okay? said Kagome as she watched her little sisters start getting their dolls prepared for playing with.  
  
"Who's that?" asked Miroku. He was pointing at a girl who was coming down the hill.  
  
'He doesn't remember her? Well, It has been a year, and she's changed a lot...' "Hello Sango!" Kagome called out to her other friend.  
  
Sango waved as she made her way down the steep hill and towards Kagome and Miroku. "Hey Kagome!"  
  
"Do you remember Miroku? You haven't seen him in a while. It's been over a year."  
  
Sango plopped down on the blanket they were using to sit on. "Yea, I remember him." she said with a small blush. Oh yea, she remembered him. The last time they had met he had barely paid any attention to her, since he was fairly busy, but she had started to get a small crush on him. Who wouldn't? He is pretty handsome.  
  
"Ah, I think I remember you. Were you the one that always wore pigtails?" asked Miroku as he searched through his mind, trying to remember the lovely lady who was now sitting in front of him.  
  
Sango's blush deepened as she nodded. Why did people always have to remind her of her little pigtail phase?  
  
Miroku's eyes traveled the beauty that was sitting in front of him. 'She has definitely changed from the last time I saw her. She's taller, has more curves, larger brea- ' His thoughts were cut off by a slap across his face.  
  
"Pervert!" Sango yelled.  
  
"Sorry, I hadn't realized that I was staring." said Miroku, a lazy smile forming across his face.  
  
Kagome giggled. They were so cute together. "So what brings you here, Sango?"  
  
Sango's blush faded a little as she turned to her friend. "I just needed to get out of the house, and away from Kohaku for a while. He's ecstatic about having to 'go to war'."  
  
"He's happy?" asked Kagome, her brown orbs wide with confusion.  
  
"Yea, he finally gets to do what he does best. I'm happy for him."  
  
"Your happy?" Kagome asked, her eyes growing wider in disbelief.  
  
"Well, its not like he's going directly into war. He has to go through training and all. Plus, the younger ones are only for backup if things really get bad. Its most likely that he wont have to fight at all," replied Sango.  
  
Kagome let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure what was going to happen when Souta left. She was relieved to know that he most likely wouldn't have to fight.  
  
"How's Souta doing with all of this?" asked Sango. She had always known Souta to be a kindhearted boy who never wanted to fight.  
  
"Not too good. I think he's scared, but at least he'll have Kohaku with him."  
  
Sango smiled and nodded. "Yea, they will most likely be in the same training building."  
  
"I'M HUNGRY!" yelled Rin from her spot in the grass.  
  
"Oh, hold on, I'll have the food ready in a minute," said Kagome as she and Miroku started to pull the food out of the basket. "Do you want some?" Kagome asked Sango.  
  
"Naw, I have to go," said Sango as she got up and dusted herself off. "I just wanted to see if I could come over later. I haven't really talked to you in a while."  
  
"All right, I'll see you after training, okay?"  
  
"Okay, bye!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"All right!" said Kikyo. "Today we are going to be focusing on protective barriers around ourselves. This is something that we both have to work on. Mine is rather weak"  
  
"Mine is rather weak," Kagome mocked in a whisper. 'I can't even make one!'  
  
"What was that?" asked Kikyo.  
  
"Nothing!" Kagome said, her chocolate brown eyes wide with innocence.  
  
"Okay, well, I find it easier if I sit while producing a barrier charm. So, sit." Said Kikyo as she found a flat patch of grass to sit on.  
  
Kagome sat down, put her bow and arrows aside, and watched her sister for further instructions. 'Will she be able to teach me more than Robin? Maybe...but probably not.'  
  
"Close your eyes," Kikyo said softly. "Now focus on your inner power like you've been doing with Robin."  
  
Kagome's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to focus on her energy. Soon, to her and her sister's surprise, a blue power was swirling around her. She felt a spot on her chest get hot, but ignored it.  
  
Kikyo's mouth dropped, she had definitely not expected her sister to be able to tap into her powers yet. "O-okay, now you have to imagine a barrier around you. Try to make that mental picture come to life by pressing at your powers, press at the mental barrier."  
  
Kagome did as she was told. Sweat was slowly trickling down her face. She made a pained expression. Suddenly the light blue power around her cackled and sparked. The spot on her chest felt like it was burning. Then her power started turning into a circle around her and expanded. It was beautiful. It looked like a large crystal bubble. The sun's rays hit it, making it shine even brighter than it already was. It shined so bright that it was nearly blinding.  
  
Kikyo had to walk backwards to avoid getting hit with the rather powerful barrier that her sister had produced. "Okay! Kagome! Stop! Stop!" she said as she shielded her eyes from the light.  
  
Kagome opened her eyes. They had turned the blue color of the energy that was still swirling around her. She quickly dropped the barrier, and her orbs turned back to their natural chocolate color.  
  
"How did you do that?!" exclaimed Kikyo, blinking owlishly as she tried to rid her eyes of the spots that had formed from the blinding light that they just had to endure.  
  
Kagome, who was shaking madly and taking harsh breaths to regain her oxygen, didn't know how to answer her sister. "I-I don't know. It just happened"  
  
Kikyo stared at her sister in confusion. "Well, come on, let's get home. You look tired, and I would be too if I produced something like that!" She said as she extended a hand out to her twin.  
  
Kagome took her hand and shakily stood up. "I'll be home in a minute. I need to go wash up."  
  
"Do you want me to come with you?" asked Kikyo, concern evident in her eyes.  
  
"No!" exclaimed Kagome a little louder than she intended to. "No, that's all right. I'm fine, just a little tired. Thanks anyway though."  
  
"Okay, don't forget that your having Sango over" said Kikyo as her twin walked away.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
'Maybe training with Kikyo won't be so bad after all' Thought Kagome as she walked toward the stream. 'What was that burning on my chest though?'  
  
She put her hand to her chest and felt a small bump. She reached under her shirt and brought out the jewel that was hanging from a chain. She looked at it and realized that it was shining brightly. So bright in fact, it looked like the pink color had turned to white. It was also very hot. Was that what had burned her?  
  
'Did this jewel help bring out and build my powers?'  
  
Kagome was so caught up in her thoughts that she barely noticed that she was at the creek already.  
  
"What's with you?" asked Inuyasha as he jumped out of a nearby tree.  
  
Kagome jumped, slightly startled at his sudden appearance. "N-nothing!"  
  
"Then why aren't you paying attention to where you're going?"  
  
"I was thinking..." she said as she looked down at the shining jewel.  
  
Inuyasha followed her gaze down to the small jewel hanging around her neck. "Woah!" His eyes widened at the astonishingly bright jewel. "What happened to it?"  
  
"I think that I used it, or something, I don't really know," muttered Kagome.  
  
"Used it? How?"  
  
"I um, well, might have somehow used its powers to unleash mine and make them stronger. It was amazing."  
  
Inuyasha's honey golden orbs stared at the glowing jewel. It was slowly turning back to its original color and tint. "Does that mean that this is the Shikon no Tama?"  
  
"I guess so," said Kagome as she lowered herself to the ground, taking her sandals off to dip her feet in the creek.  
  
The hanyou plopped himself next to her, watching Kagome's feet as they splashed the streams waters.  
  
Kagome stared at the little fishes that once again started nibbling at her toes. 'Oh no! I forgot their food. Darn. Speaking of food...' "What do you eat?"  
  
Inuyasha gave her a puzzled look. "Why?"  
  
"Well, I heard that demons eat young virgins or something."  
  
"That's the stupidest thing that I have ever heard," Inuyasha grunted in amusement. "I eat deer, rabbit, and squirrel usually"  
  
"Oh" replied Kagome. "Do you cook them?"  
  
"Nope, it's easier to just eat them raw"  
  
Kagome made a disgusted face. 'I'm going to bring him some food too.'  
  
The sun started sinking beyond the horizon, and it was getting colder. Kagome shivered as goosebumps spread across her arms. 'Why didn't I bother to wear a coat? Its freezing'  
  
Kagome felt something warm drape across her shoulders. She looked over at Inuyasha, who now only had an undershirt on. He was staring to the side, as if he hadn't done anything.  
  
Kagome smiled and scooted closer to Inuyasha, their bodies only inches apart. Inuyasha raised his eyebrows at her questioningly.  
  
"Just conserving body heat" she said as she laid her head on his shoulder. She wasn't ever like this with anyone else, but this just felt right.  
  
Blood rushed to Inuyasha's face as he felt Kagome's head on his shoulder. He was amazed, to say the least. 'Does she actually like me?'  
  
Kagome closed her eyes as she took in his scent. He smelled like the forest. Almost like cedar. It was comforting.  
  
They sat there in silence until the sun went down. She wanted to stay like that forever, but she knew she had to go home sometime or her mother would worry. Kagome's eyes snapped open as she remembered who was at her house waiting for her. 'Sango!'  
  
She quickly stood up and dusted off her clothes, feeling bad about leaving Inuyasha's warmth. "Sorry! I've really got to go! I forgot that I told my friend that I would talk to her after practice!"  
  
She took off his coat and handed it back to him. "Thank you!" she said over her shoulder as she started running towards her house. "I'll see you tomorrow!"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
An- Wowza! That was pretty long for me! It makes up for the last short chapter. I hope you all liked! It took me a while to do, but I'm very proud of it. ^_~ Oh, and I want to make a new summary. I don't like the one that I have now very much, so if anyone has some suggestions I would be eternally grateful. ^_^  
  
Inspiring quote of the day-"The secret to success is to know something nobody else knows"  
  
~Lima  
  
Review? ?_? 


	9. new demon

AN- Hi! Sorry that the update is came slow this time...I've been really busy lately, and It's hard to squeeze in time for writing. But you all are such awesome reviewers, so I'm forcing myself to stay awake and write another chapter. If you all feel like it, check out my new fic Survivor. I only have two reviews (besides for the one I gave myself...long story! ^_~) so I would appreciate it if you all would take a look and tell me if you like. Thanks.  
  
Review Responses-  
  
Eddie4- You need more? Sorry, but for a while I'm not going to be able to make very long chapters for you. I wish that I could, but school, sports, animals, family, friends, eating, and sleeping just keep getting in my way. I'll probably make longer chapters with more frequent updates next month if you can be patient with me.  
  
IYEWOBluver- I'm glad someone thought that that was long! ^_~ I'm glad that you liked yet another one of my chapters. Your support means a lot to me! Oh, and I'm going to try to read your new chapters soon! ^_^  
  
CrazyAznGurl-^_^ I wish I had an Inuyasha too! That would be totally awesome. I'm glad that you enjoy reading my story!!! It makes me feel so good to know that you like it. Here's the next chapter. I hope that you enjoy.  
  
JoJo10-I updated for ya. Hope that you like! ^_~  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"What took you so long? I told you that I was going to be here! Is what Kikyo said true? Did you really use your miko powers? Did you really make a barrier?"  
  
When Kagome had arrived home, her slightly angered friend had greeted her before she had even arrived at her front porch. Kagome stared at her friend taking in all of her quickly coming questions and trying to think of the best possible answers.  
  
"It took me a while, because I was enjoying myself at the creek and I forgot that you were waiting for me. Yes, I did use my miko powers to make a barrier," Kagome replied, a small smile tugged at her lips. It would probably be hard for Sango to believe that she had finally tapped into her powers.  
  
Sango's anger tuned to amazement at Kagome's reply. "S-seriously?"  
  
Kagome nodded happily. "Yes! I'm so happy! My barrier probably beat Kikyo's..."  
  
Sango's dark eyes widened. "Wow! Can you show me?"  
  
"I can show you later...but I'm kind of drained right now. It takes a lot of energy to make a good barrier."  
  
Kagome knew the she still had plenty of energy left to show sango the barrier, but she didn't feel like showing it to anyone right now. It had been a long day, and all she really wanted to be alone for a while...to have some time to think about all that had been going on lately. She would enjoy talking about some of the things happening to her with sango, especially things to do with a certain dog-eared hanyou, but she knew that she couldn't tell anyone about Inuyasha. Even her best friend. Inuyasha would have to stay secret as long as possible.  
  
"Well, that's okay. Can you show me tomorrow?" asked sango, her eyes pleading.  
  
"Yeah, I'll show you tomorrow," replied Kagome. She watched in amusement as her friend's face lit up.  
  
"You must be excited Kagome! You can finally do other miko things too, right? Like that fire-ball thing that you always thought was so neat, and healing powers!"  
  
Kagome felt overwhelmed at the thought. She hadn't yet considered using her newly found miko powers to do other things too. Would she become more powerful than Kikyo, or would she still be weaker? Would she want the power and attention? Kagome shook her head to rid the oncoming thoughts, and turned back to Sango.  
  
"Yeah, I guess-"  
  
"Kagome dear!"  
  
They both turned around to see her mother coming out of the door. She went up to Kagome and pulled her into a tight embrace.  
  
"I'm so proud of you! You finally unlocked your powers. I knew that Kikyo being your trainer would help you improve!" said Ms. Higurashi excitedly.  
  
Kagome's face reddened at her mother's little display. 'Does she really think that I unlocked my powers because of Kikyo? Well...I don't want to tell her about the jewel...For some reason I feel like that needs to stay secret'  
  
"Yeah, she helped me a lot," muttered Kagome.  
  
Her mom beamed proudly at her. "I knew that you would get your powers! Maybe sapphire should train with Kikyo too...Well come in and have dinner! You must be hungry. You can have some dinner too Sango."  
  
Sango nodded gratefully, and both her and Kagome went into the house for dinner.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Inuyasha jumped up in his favorite tree, above the creek, to try to relax. He put his red over-shirt back on. It now smelled like Kagome...like the soft sweet smell of roses. He closed his golden eyes and smiled one of the first real smiles that he had made in a long time. 'She seems to like me. She is the only person that has ever treated me nicely...she doesn't act like I'm a mutt, a disgrace to both demons and humans.'  
  
He closed his golden eyes and took in the last of Kagome's scent that clung to his shirt. It was comforting and made him feel slightly tired. He was about to take a small nap when he heard a loud scream. His ears perked up to try to distinguish what was making the terrified noises. It sounded like some type of young demon, and it seemed to be coming in his direction with something much larger following it.  
  
Soon he saw a small orange ball of fluff coming out from on of the bushes near him. It was a small fox demon, a kistune. He watched as the kit looked around for a suitable hiding spot and couldn't find one. It was crying.  
  
*CRASH *  
  
A large worm demon suddenly popped out of the clearing, snapping a tree in half in the process. Its large slanted eyes caught sight of the kit. The demon slowly, almost playfully slowly, made its way over to the frightened fox.  
  
Inuyasha looked between the two. Should he help or let nature take its place? He took another look at the small fox demon, and made up his mind.  
  
He jumped down from the tree, right between the worm demon and the small shivering ball of orange fluff.  
  
"Leave now and I won't cut you in half," he threatened the worm demon as he extended his sharp claws warningly.  
  
The worm demon, who didn't seem to understand what he was saying, or maybe just didn't care, charged carelessly toward him.  
  
Faster than the eye could catch, Inuyasha extended his arm and cut the demon straight through into two large pieces.  
  
"Keh," He mumbled as he wiped the blood from his claws in the water. When he thought they were properly clean, he looked toward the frightened fox child, who was shaking and staring at the two pieces of the corpse with wide eyes.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
The kit turned its head towards Inuyasha, gave him a frightened glance, and collapsed.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome giggled as she watched Sango slap Miroku's hand, which was slowly reaching toward an off-limits part of her body, away. Those two were such a cute couple.  
  
The whole family, and Miroku, Sango, and Kohaku were sitting at the dinner table eating. Kohaku had come over with Sango so he could hang out with Souta. They had all congratulated Kagome on her gain of powers, and they were celebrating with a large dinner and wine, which unfortunately made Miroku a little, ...okay very, perverted.  
  
"Are you done eating Kagome?" asked Sango in a pleading voice as she watched Miroku's hand slowly inching its way toward her again.  
  
"Not real-"  
  
"Great!" said Sango before Kagome could finish what she was saying. Sango got out of her chair and started to lead her out of the kitchen. Kagome made a grunt of protest as she was taken away from her half-eaten plate of food. She gave the food a longing glance before she was dragged out of the kitchen, up the long spiral stairs, down the hallway, and finally into her room.  
  
Kagome flopped down on her large fluffy bed and puffed her cheeks out angrily. "I wasn't nearly done with dinner yet! I'm still hungry..."  
  
"Well! I needed to get away from that lecher and his perverted wondering hands!" exclaimed Sango in her defense. " He has been trying to feel me up ever since I got here! You would think that he would at least stop during dinner...!"  
  
"I remember a girl constantly wanting to get the attention of the "handsome monk." Kagome pointed out with a small, sly smile creeping its way across her face. "Well now you have it and you don't even want it!"  
  
A dark red blush stained Sango's cheeks. "I don't want that kind of attention! How was I supposed to know he was such a pervert!?"  
  
Kagome smiled at her flustered friend. She knew that Sango was still very fond of Miroku, and probably liked the "attention" she was receiving. "He may be a lecher, but he is a good guy.  
  
Sango chose not to respond to that statement. She had suddenly found the wall much more interesting than the current conversation.  
  
Seeing that she wasn't going to get any other response from her friend, Kagome decided to change the subject. "Have you ever heard of anywhere that demons and humans coexist?  
  
Sango turned her dark brown orbs away from the wall and gave Kagome a confused look. "Uh...I don't think so. Not in Japan at least...I don't think that humans and demons are supposed to be together. It just isn't natural."  
  
"Oh," replied Kagome. So you have never heard of any human that had a relationship with a demon?"  
  
Sango's eyebrows drew together in concentration as she tried to remember something on the subject. "Well...I think I can remember my dad telling me about a time when an male inu-youkai and a female human were had some sort of relationship together. It was about fifty years ago. They even had a child, a hanyou. The lady ended up being hung for treason, and no one knows what happened to the demon or the baby. They both just disappeared."  
  
Kagome's eyes widened. 'An inu-youkai and a human had a baby? Were those Inuyasha's parents? There can't be many other cases with a dog demon and a human having a child, can there?'  
  
"I remember another one that my dad told me about too," continued Sango. "It wasn't as long ago...probably about seven years...but anyway, A human and a demon had a hanyou. Its name was Jeninji. It was supposedly a huge half- demon. Somehow him and his mom survived the villagers' wrath, but the demon father was killed. Why did you want to know?"  
  
"Just curious."  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
AN-Hope you all liked! Sorry if there is a lot of spelling errors. I didn't have the time to look over it, so if you see any errors just tell me. I promise that the next update will come faster. Last week was kind of hectic for me, but now things are settling down and I can get back to writing more for you all. Does anyone know what Inuyasha's outfit is called? Isn't a fox demon a kistune? If you know please tell! ^_^ Oh, and don't forget to read my other story survivor! Thanx.  
  
Review?  
  
~Lima 


	10. they meet

An- ;_; Oh no! I only got two reviews for the last chapter! Oh no! -_- Sorry it took me so long to update again! My mom banned me from the computer until I raised my math grade a bit T_T. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Oh, and don't worry you all! The plot is going somewhere, it's just getting there slowly. ^_~  
  
I do not own Inuyasha.  
  
Review responses-  
  
Eddie4-I know, I'll keep trying to update more often, but it can be hard sometimes. There will be plenty of fluff in later chapters. Don't worry.  
  
CraziAznGurl- Thanx! I'm glad it's getting better. Yeah, Sango enjoys the attention...she is just slightly reluctant to admit it! ^_~  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"I'll write you as often as I can!" called Souta to his family as he got on the wagon holding other young men who would be going to war training, including Kohaku.  
  
Kagome smiled and waved as she watched the horses pull the large wagon away. "I hope he'll do fine," she said to Sango, who was standing next to her to see off her own brother off.  
  
"They'll be fine Kagome. It's only training for now." Sango replied in a exasperated voice. Kagome had been fretting all day and nothing that she said seemed so ease her friend's fear that her brother would be hurt somehow.  
  
"I guess you're right..." said Kagome sadly as the wagon went out of view. "I have to go train with Kikyo soon. I'd better get ready."  
  
Sango's dark orbs widened with excitement. "Oh! Can I come with you? Please?"  
  
Kagome bit her lip. She didn't really want anyone else with her while she trained, especially because Sango would undoubtedly follow her when she went into the woods to visit Inuyahsa. "I-I don't know..."  
  
"Please Kagome! You said that you would show me your new powers!" said Sango, her eyes staring pleadingly at Kagome.  
  
"Fine," said Kagome, slightly angry with herself for giving into her friend.  
  
"Thanks Kagome! I swear that I won't interrupt you or anything. I'll stand way off to the side."  
  
"Well, I have to go change and get my arrows and stuff...I'll meet you at my training spot in a little while, okay?"  
  
"Okay, see you then!"  
  
*  
  
"Gah!" yelled Kagome as she tried to get into her training uniform. It was very tight, and it clung to every curve in her body. It was a one pieced black suit that had blue shoulder cuffs and a blue belt. It was exactly like Kikyo's except kikyo's had a purple belt and cuffs. She normally wore regular clothes to train in, but she figured that since she was now actually doing something besides just shooting arrows she would wear it.  
  
When she had finally managed to get into the tight suit she grabbed her bow and arrows and some bread for the fish and Inuyasha. After that she went ran down the stars, rushing to get to her training with Kikyo on time.  
  
"Nice outfit," said a sly voice from behind her.  
  
Kagome turned around and saw Miroku leaning against the wall, looking her up and down approvingly. "Shut up, I've got to get to training soon and I'm not in the mood for your perverted thoughts!"  
  
"I'll come with you! I heard Sango was coming..."  
  
Kagome glared at him. "I don't need anymore audience!"  
  
"Sure you do!" said Miroku cheerfully as he started walking out of the door, motioning for her to follow. "It trains you to work under pressure."  
  
"Fine! Lets just go before I get any more late than I already am!" she said as she ran out the door.  
  
When they made it to the training area they spotted Sango and Kikyo sitting on the ground talking.  
  
"Hello lady Sango!" said Miroku with a perverted grin on his face.  
  
Sango shot Kagome a glare before giving the monk a forced hello.  
  
"Okay!" said Kikyo as she clapped her hands together. "Today we're going to be working on producing a fireball. I can already make one, but it took me about a month so I don't expect you to be able to even make a small flame yet."  
  
Kagome gave Miroku her bow, arrows, and bread, and walked over to Kikyo. "You guys might not want to sit too close if we're going to be producing fire."  
  
They looked slightly put out at not being able to have a closer view of the action, but both still complied and scooted back.  
  
Kikyo cleared her throat softly and continued. "Summoning fire is very difficult. First you need to hold out your palms," she said while demonstrating by holding her hands out and motioning for Kagome to follow suit. "Now you have to try to channel your power to your hands, and when you do that your palms will automatically produce fire." Kikyo finished, producing a perfect ball of pink fire in her hands.  
  
Kagome closed chocolate orbs and tried to concentrate on getting her powers into her hands, and she felt a very tiny flame flick from her palms onto the ground. She opened her eyes and saw a small patch of grass lighting on fire.  
  
"Nice job Kagome!" called Miroku from his spot in the grass as he tried to contain his laughter.  
  
Sango hit him in the ribs with her elbow. "Don't mind him! You're doing great!"  
  
"Kagome! You can never close your eyes when producing fire! It can be dangerous!" Reprimanded Kikyo as she stomped out the flames in the grass.  
  
Kagome shot everyone angry looks. She really didn't like an audience. She took a deep breath and tried again. Her face turned red as she tried with all of her might to summon her powers to her palms. She soon felt the familiar burning of the jewel again and Kagome's eyes faded from a dark brown to an icy blue. A flame started to rise out of each of her fingers that matched her eyes. The blue flames grew bigger and each had a small outline of silver on the outside. The beautiful flames on top of her fingertips began dancing and swaying with the wind. Her blue orbs widened and she quickly extinguished the flame by fisting her hands, which made her eyes slowly turn back to their original color.  
  
Kikyo, whose mouth was wide open in shock, stared at her sister incredulously. "H-H-how did you just do that? It isn't supposed to come from your fingers! That makes ten fireballs!"  
  
"Go Kagome!" said Miroku enthusiastically while Sango clapped her hands.  
  
Kagome smiled uneasily at them all. She wasn't sure what to tell them. She knew that her powers were coming form the jewel, but she didn't want to tell them. 'It's kind of nice to be better than Kikyo for once, even if I have to use the jewel...' "Well, um, I don't know how I did it. I just did what you said."  
  
Kikyo didn't know what to make of this. Even if Kagome did just get her miko powers, she would still have to practice them to perfect them like they were now. "Are you sure that you don't know why you're getting a burst of powers?" asked Kikyo seriously.  
  
"Yes!" answered Kagome as she turned away from her sister, not able to look her in the eyes and trying to hide her burning ears.  
  
Noticing the lack of eye contact and the way that her ears were turning dark red, Kikyo knew that she was lying. Ever since Kagome was little she had never been able to lie very well. Every time that she tried to her ears always turned red. "Fine, we're done for today," she said as she got up and started walking back home. "We'll practice again when you can be more honest with me."  
  
Kagome glared at her sister's back. "I was being honest!" she yelled at her twin, who just kept ignored her and kept on walking.  
  
*  
  
Inuyasha stared closely at the kit as it started to wake up. After the fox child had fainted he had taken it with him to his favorite tree and laid it on a large branch for protection. Until now it hadn't moved at all.  
  
The kit's eyes slowly fluttered open. It lifted itself up and looked blearily around. It's large turquoise orbs soon fell on Inuyasha, who was sitting on a branch nearby. He gasped in surprise. "Who are you? Where am I?"  
  
Inuyasha gave the kit an annoyed look. "I'm your savior, and we're in a tree."  
  
"What?" the fox child asked in confusion.  
  
Inuyasha sighed. 'Did I have to save something so stupid?' "I saved you from that ugly overgrown worm."  
  
"Oh," said the kit as its memories started flowing through its mind. "Thanks for saving me...My name is Shippo!"  
  
Inuyasha grunted and turned away. Now that he knew that 'Shippo' was okay, he allowed his mind to wander. 'Kagome should be training right now...maybe I should see how good she actually is.'  
  
Giving himself a slight nod, he stood up and jumped to a higher branch of the tree. "Stay here kid. I'll be right back."  
  
"Where are you going?" Shippo called after him.  
  
Inuyasha didn't reply. He just jumped higher and higher until he was near the top of the tree. He held onto one of the protruding branches nearby with one hand, and he used the other to shield his eyes from the late afternoon sun. He looked in the direction of the village, and found the object of his search. On the top of one of the many hills was Kagome, someone identical to her, another girl, and a- a monk?  
  
Inuyasha shifted, trying to get the sun's glare away from his golden eyes. When he finally positioned himself where the tree was providing his face some shade, he looked back towards Kagome and noticed that Kagome had her hands cupped, as though holding water in them. She stood that way for a while until her hands started glowing with a blue light. The blue light turned to flames on each of her fingers. Inuyasha squinted, trying to look at her face. 'Did her eyes just change color?' Kagome clenched her fists together, extinguishing the flames.  
  
Inuyasha blinked rapidly, not quite sure if had really seen that happen. 'How can she do that? I may not know much about miko powers, but I do know that what she did right there was very advanced. It must be the jewel.'  
  
Inuyasha looked back at Kagome, and noticed that she, the girl, and the monk were coming toward the forest. "What the hell is she bringing them out here for?" he said icily as he got himself to the lower branches of the tree and prepared to wait for their arrival.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"I'm just going to wash up you guys! There is no need to follow me!" said Kagome for about the twentieth time. So far she hadn't had any luck of shaking them off so she could go visit Inuyasha alone.  
  
"I need to wash up a little too," said Sango as she looked at her dirty hands.  
  
"I just wish to look at the forest. It has been a long while since I haven't been inside this forest for years," stated Miroku.  
  
Kagome sighed in defeat. Her friends were just as stubborn, if not more, than she was and she knew that it was no use arguing.  
  
"What's the bread for?" asked Sango as they walked deeper into the woods.  
  
Kagome held up the loaf of bread. "This? It's for the fishes. They seemed hungry the last time that I was here, so I decided that I would bring them a treat."  
  
Sango rolled her eyes at her friend. Kagome had always been sympathetic to animals. Ever since she was a kid Kagome had always fed the stray cats and dogs, and helped any injured animal that crossed her path.  
  
"Here it is!" said Kagome as she spotted the creek. She walked over to the creek, cupped her hands, brought the clear and refreshing water to her mouth and quenched her thirst.  
  
Sango came over next to Kagome and washed her hands in the water. "I've never been to this part of the woods. It's supposed to be unsafe, Kagome. There is rumor of demons living out here. You really shouldn't be going out here on your own."  
  
Kagome was about to reply that she didn't need a baby-sitter, but before she could there was a muffled cry coming from one of the trees.  
  
"What was that?" asked Miroku as he looked around. He took his staff, planted it into the ground and closed his eyes. "I feel the presence of a demon."  
  
Kagome's eyes widened. 'Oh no! Inuyasha!'  
  
"Come out demon!" Miroku called in a demanding voice. "Come out and fight. If you choose to stay hidden I will find you."  
  
There was no response and Kagome thought that Inuyasha wouldn't rise to Miroku's challenge, but after a while of total silence there was a rustling of leaves and a livid hanyou came out from a nearby tree.  
  
"What in the hell are they doing here, Kagome?"  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
AN-Finally! I thought that I would never get this chapter done! Well, there you go. Hope you enjoyed. I am truly sorry about the lack of updates, I'll try to write more often for you all. Thank you for your patience. Oh, and to the people who are reading my other story, survivor, hang in there! I'm planning on updating soon!  
  
Review? ^_~ 


	11. the struggle

AN-Yello' all! I figured that I would type another chapter for you good people since I'm having a bit of a brain fart with my other one, "survivor." ^_^ I'm so happy! My reviews are in the 40 range now! That's freaking amazing! Thank you my wonderful reviewers! (and readers ^_~)  
  
Review responses-  
  
JoJo10-I'm still doing good? YAY! * Beams with pride * Thank you! ^_^ I'm updating for you! ^_~  
  
Randomunit02-^_^ I'm glad you like! Here's the next chapter for ya!  
  
Luvinuyasha4eva-You know what? Your review caused me so much trouble! FF.net got all screwed up and sent me your review like 50 times and filled up my inbox so I couldn't get any other mail! Seriously! So much for the good luck you sent me! What a coincidence! ^_^ Anyway....glad you like! Hope you enjoy this chapter.  
  
CrazyAznGurl-Yeah, Inuyasha isn't very happy right now. ^_^ But he'll get over it in time! I hope this chapter pleases you!  
  
Rischel14- O_o WOW! I'm glad that you enjoy my story so much! I wanted to do a fic where Inuyasha and Kagome got along pretty well, although there might be some fighting in this chapter... They do tend to fight a lot in other fics. ^______^  
  
Punklunargoddess0- There is Rin, Sky, Sapphire, Lexie, Abby, and Kikyo. So, that's six! ^_^ I updated!!!  
  
Dragon Man 180- ^_^ I don't think Kag's mom is going to let Shippo stay with them. ^_~ Although he's welcome at my door anytime! ^_^ He is really cute, and he's my favorite animal! ^_^  
  
Eddie4- You'll just have to see what happens...^_^  
  
Kody leigh-Thanks. I like the blue fire idea a lot too. I think that would be such a cool power to have! *_* I can't answer your question! You'll just have to wait and see!  
  
Lyndsay-(forgot your sn, and I didn't feel like looking) You are so nice to me! I'm glad that you are still interested in this horrible story! ^_^  
  
Well, I think that just about sums that up! ^_^ Now, on with the story!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"I-I they um..." Kagome stuttered along, not quite sure what else to say in response to the hanyou's angry words.  
  
"How does this demon know your name?" asked Sango fiercely as she reached for the knife. "Is this demon stalking you?"  
  
"No! It's not like--," started Kagome.  
  
"I asked you why you brought these stinking humans! You had better answer me!" yelled Inuyasha as he got into a crouched position, preparing to spring at the monk or the girl.  
  
"I brought them—,"  
  
"Don't you dare threaten Kagome!" hissed Miroku, also preparing to attack.  
  
"I'll do whatever the hell I want to, monk!" yelled Inuyasha. He jumped in the air, lifting his claws to attack the monk, who was holding his staff in front of him for protection  
  
Kagome stared wide-eyed at the scene as it...went in slow motion? She felt the jewel burn her chest, and looked down to see that the small sphere was now glowing intensely, almost blinding. Everything around her was moving extremely slow. She watched as Inuyasha, who was currently in the air, inched toward Miroku in a sluggish speed. Sango was slowly lifting her blade, preparing to stab the hanyou if he got within range. ' The jewel must have done this! Did it slow down time, or just make me extremely fast?'  
  
Kagome shook her head, ridding herself of her thoughts and making her raven locks fly around her face. She needed to stop this fight...one way or another. Making up her mind on how she was going to stop the fight, she stepped in the middle of Inuyasha and Miroku and produced a large barrier around herself. It swirled and cackled around her, ready to attack anything that dare enter its territory.  
  
Time suddenly sped up, and everything happened in a blur of lightning speed. Inuyasha collided into the large, blue bubble surrounding Kagome, and was knocked backward into a tree. Miroku and Sango, who were nearly blinded by the intense barrier surrounding the miko, stumbled backwards, very confused by the turn of events.  
  
Seeing that the fight was subdued, Kagome took down her barrier. Her eyes, which had turned blue, started to turn back to their original color. She turned toward the disgruntled hanyou who was trying to stand back up. "Sorry Inuyasha, but I had to do it. You could have really hurt someone!"  
  
Inuyasha shot Kagome a glare so cold it could have frozen boiling water. Without another word, or glance in her direction, he jumped in a tree, retrieved what seemed like a ball of fluff, and ran into the forest at top speed.  
  
"Inuyasha! Wait!" Kagome yelled at his retreating back. When he didn't turn back, she let out an exhausted sigh and turned back to her friends.  
  
"K-Kagome? How do you know that demon?" asked Sango. She had seen the exchange between the hanyou and her friend, and she didn't know what to make of it. How could innocent Kagome be friends with a demon?  
  
Miroku just stood there, staring at his old friend with a level expression. He may have looked calm on the outside, but he was really frightened for her. By what he had seen, it was obvious that Kagome had some type of relationship with the hanyou. He knew that any relationship between a human and demon was punishable by law.  
  
Scratching the back of her head nervously, Kagome tried to think of a way to explain her and Inuyasha. "Well...I met him a while back when we were in the woods for protection from the demon attack. I freed him from one of those demon traps. After that I just met him in the woods from time to time when I got done with my training. He's a really nice guy when you get to know him!"  
  
All Sango could do was stare at her friend in absolute shock, while Miroku stood there, staring into Kagome's eyes, looking for any type of lie she could be telling them.  
  
Once satisfied that Kagome was being truthful, he swiped his hair out of his face and rubbed his eyes. This wasn't good. "Kagome...you can't go around befriending demons. There are laws prohibiting it. If you got caught...you would be in a lot of trouble. You need to end your relationship with him as soon as possible"  
  
"He's not a full demon though! He's only half, so it shouldn't matter!" Kagome defended herself, wringing her hands nervously at the intensely serious look on Miroku's face.  
  
"It doesn't matter," said Sango, who had managed to find her voice. "It's still extremely dangerous! I agree with Miroku, you need to end it Kagome."  
  
Kagome stared at her two best friends in absolute horror. "N-no! I am not going to stop seeing him. I-I'm all he has. He doesn't have any other friends or family that I know of. I can't abandon him!"  
  
"Let's just go home and we can talk about it there," offered Miroku, knowing that Kagome was too stubborn to back down on the subject.  
  
"I have to go find Inuyasha and apologize. He seemed really mad when he left...and I don't really blame him."  
  
"No," said Miroku simply, standing in front of her to block her way.  
  
"Move!" yelled Kagome angrily as she tried to push the monk out of her way.  
  
"No," repeated Miroku, standing his ground in front of her.  
  
Kagome glared icily at him. "If you don't move I'll make you move!" she threatened. Silver strands of power started surrounding her, preparing for the barrier she was going to produce. Her pride wasn't about to let her back down to Miroku. She was going to get to Inuyasha one way or another.  
  
Seeing that she wasn't about to back down, Miroku internally sighed at what he was going to do if she didn't give in. "Kagome, stop this now! I won't let you go to that demon! He's dangerous!" he demanded in a booming voice that he had never used with her before.  
  
"You guys!" Sango yelled, trying to stop the fight that was threatening to start between the two.  
  
Noticing that Miroku has turned at the sound of Sango's pleading voice, Kagome managed to get around Miroku. She started running at top speed, producing a barrier around herself in the process. She had gotten a good distance away, so she looked back, making sure that she wasn't being followed. She wasn't expecting a large body to suddenly slam into her.  
  
Miroku had managed to use his staff and his spiritual powers to break through her barrier and pin her to the ground. He had his staff pinned against her chest, preventing her from making any further moves to free herself from his grasp. "I'm sorry that I have to do this to you Kag."  
  
Kagome felt a large jolt of power go through her, making her back arch in protest. All of her limbs suddenly felt as thought they were too heavy to lift. She watched helplessly as Miroku gathered her up in his arms. Sango, who was looking at her with a piteous expression, didn't stop him. Kagome gave her a betrayed look. Why wasn't Sango helping her? Black spots formed in her vision, and she slipped out of consciousness.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome threw her pillow into the off white wall to vent off some frustration. She was beyond angry with both of her so-called 'friends'. One minute she had been in the woods, ready to go find Inuyasha, the next she was at her house and in her bed. How dare Miroku do something to her against her will! To top it off, he was coming by her bedroom door every couple of minutes. She knew that he was making sure that she didn't run off anytime soon.  
  
She frowned at the door as she heard Miroku's light footsteps pass once again. She clenched and unclenched her fists, her intense gaze on the door just daring him do come in. If he did, she would be on him so quick he wouldn't have any time to retaliate. (not in a bad way guys! ^_^ Perverts...) The footsteps paused for a second, then resumed going down the hallway.  
  
Kagome turned her head from the door to the mirror that hung over her bed's headboard. She noticed a tiny glint of blue flash across it, so she moved closer to the mirror to inspect what had caused it. She looked at her reflection, and found that her eyes had small dots of silvery-blue specked across them. Kagome blinked rapidly, making sure that she was seeing right. She finally decided that her eyes weren't deceiving her, and plopped back down on her bed. What had made her eyes change color like that? Was it the jewel? Kikyo had told her that it made her eyes change color during training, but they had always changed back to their original color.  
  
Kagome soon heard someone passing by her room. She figured that it was Miroku coming to make sure that she wasn't planning on leaving Temporarily forgetting about her eyes she grabbing the pillow once again she shoved it in her face to smother the sudden scream that erupted inside of her. Oh yeah, she was mad. She continued to vent her anger on her pillow until she heard a slight, timid knock on her door.  
  
Not sure whether she wanted to let the person in, Kagome just sat there silently, waiting for the person to introduce himself or herself.  
  
"K-Kagome? It's me, Sango. Please let me in."  
  
Kagome sent the door a glare, and totally ignored her. She didn't want to talk to her or Miroku right now.  
  
"Please let me in!" said Sango pleadingly. She was truly sorry for what had happened earlier and not helping Kagome out...but she had good reason to do what she did. She only wanted to do what was best for Kagome. She knew that her friend could get into some serious trouble if she got caught with a demon, even if the demon is only half. She wasn't going to stand by and let that happen, even if it did cost her a friendship.  
  
Getting no response, Sango leaned her head against the solid oak door, making her long jet black hair fall over her shoulders and into her face. Figuring that Kagome wasn't going to let her in, she gave up and decided to talk through the door. "Kagome...I-I'm really sorry, okay? I know that it wasn't right of me and Miroku to do what we did, but we didn't want you to get hurt. Plus, that hanyou was unstable. He could've hurt you, or worse."  
  
Kagome listened to Sango's little speech, her anger almost doubling when Sango mentioned that Inuyasha was unstable. Her face got red, and her blood was boiling. She didn't know when she had become so defensive over Inuyasha, but at this point she didn't really care. She was to frustrated to think strait.  
  
"Leave me alone," she growled, the words dripping with venom.  
  
Startled and confused by Kagome's response, Sango backed away from the door. She had expected her to at least be a little less angry after the apology, but she had obviously said something wrong. She was full of concern for her obviously distressed friend, but she knew that Kagome needed some time to cool down. If she kept bothering her it would probably make the situation worse, so Sango pulled her head away from the door and padded silently down the hall.  
  
Flopping herself down on the bed, Kagome closed her eyes. 'I don't care what they say. They don't know Inuyasha. He's only dangerous if he's provoked, which they would learn if they gave him a chance! I have to get to him. If I don't go now, I'll probably never be able to get to him with Miroku trailing me.'  
  
Kagome sat up strait on her bed, having made up her mind. She silently crawled to her window and pushed it up. she took in a deep breath. It was a long jump from her window to the ground, but she wouldn't back down from her decision. dropping her legs over the ledge she pushed herself off.  
  
Landing on her feet with an ungraceful 'oomph', Kagome looked back to make sure that no one had heard her. Apparently no one had, so she continued on.  
  
Tonight was a new moon, so there was no light left for her to see where she was going, but she wasn't going to risk producing fire. Someone was bound to see her if she did. So she trudged slowly towards the forest, trying to avoid tripping on some small rocks and plants that were in her way.  
  
When she had finally made it to the creek, she looked around. Inuyasha was no where in sight. Kagome sighed and plopped herself on a nearby rock. "Great. I wasted that whole trip on nothing. Miroku's probably going to kill me when he finds out," she muttered to herself.  
  
"Hmph."  
  
Kagome whirled around, trying to find the owner of the voice. "Inuyasha?"  
  
She heard a rustling of leaves, and then saw Inuyasha jumping out of a tree. There was something different about him...  
  
He walked closer, and even with the poor lighting she could tell what was missing. "What happened to your hair!?"  
  
Inuyasha didn't reply, he just sat down next to her and stared into her eyes.  
  
Noticing that his eyes and ears had changed also, something in her mind clicked. "Oh! That's right. You're a hanyou, so you change into a human once a month. I remember reading something about that..."  
  
When he didn't respond, Kagome sighed. "I'm sorry about bringing them here, Inuyasha."  
  
Inuyasha blinked his dark violet orbs. "Why are you sorry? I thought that I was the one that had to apologize."  
  
Kagome stared at him in confusion. "I thought that you were mad at me. You seemed pretty mad earlier..."  
  
"I'm just not used to being around so many people, especially humans. It all caught me off guard. You don't need to be sorry about anything."  
  
Smiling at the closest thing to an apology that she had ever heard Inuyasha say, she scooted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thanks."  
  
She felt Inuyasha's head rest against her own. Her eyes widened, and her heart started beating rapidly against her chest. 'He's never acted so nice. It's probably because he's human and it's harder to keep his emotions in check.' She leaned in closer to him, taking advantage of the situation, which allowed his silky black locks to fall into her face, tickling her nose.  
  
Inuyasha smiled when he felt her lean closer to him. He now realized how much he had begun to care for her. He had only known her for a short while, but he knew that he would give his life for her.  
  
"Thank you, Kagome."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Horrah! This chapter is finally done! ^_^ I hope you liked. I considered stopping it earlier, but I haven't given you all very much fluff, so I figured that I would be nice. ^_^ Hope you liked!  
  
Review? *_* 


	12. Shippo's new parents

HELLO! ^_^ Wow...It's been so long since I've written for you guys! I'm so sorry! I really am. I hate it when my favorite stories don't get out to me because the author has problems with their computer or family or just doesn't have the time.(or so they say...) I honesty am having loads of problems with my computer right now. I had to send it to the shop to be fixed, and it's taking a hell of a long time to get back! Right now, I'm on my brother's computer. * looks around frightenedly, ready to sprint away from the computer at a moments notice * ^_^;;; Me and my brother have never been on the best of terms, and if he saw me on his computer he would kill me!  
  
I do not own Inuyasha.  
  
JoJo10-^_^ fluff rulz! Lol! Glad ya likey! I updated! ( a lil late...o well)  
  
Lazylady-I see I see! Well, my little pie hole, you'll just have to live with the fact that you'll neva have inu.  
  
Randomunit02-I didn't exactly update now, but I did update! Thanx for the complement!  
  
Rischel 14- Don't forget about me! Lol! You actually guessed the Shippo thing exactly! ^_^ Well, you are most certainly welcome! I just love writing fluff!  
  
Silver_punk-glad you like my story! ^_^_^_^_^  
  
Inuyasha-love-^_^you'll just have to see what I write...lol! I'm happy that you like my story!  
  
Sakura- I updated!!!!!!(duh, lol!)  
  
Hanyou Vixen- yep, I'll email ya. Thanx for the complement! You're too nice!!!!  
  
Eloraya-^_^ I'm am so glad that you like!  
  
Dragon Man 180- yep, there is a lot of prejudiced people in this story, but I hope that this chapter explains some of it.  
  
I think thatz all folks! Now on with the story! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"NO! We need to talk to her," Sango exclaimed, crossing her arms and staring at the stubborn monk standing in front of her. After pondering what Kagome had told her, she had begun to think that there might be some truth to it. Kagome was a smart person; she wouldn't risk her life to be with the demon for no reason. That just wasn't like her.  
  
Miroku gave the demon slayer a tired look. While Miroku almost always enjoyed female's company, he was in no mood to argue. He rubbed his eyes a little, and sighed. "Look, Kagome's not going to cool off for a while. We just need to give her some time and space and she'll eventually get over it."  
  
Sango gave Miroku a disbelieving glance, her dark brown eyes staring into his deep blue ones. "No Miroku, I don't think she will. She sounded furious with me...I've never heard her talk so harshly to anybody. She...she truly feels that the demon is...well...a good demon. What if she's right?  
  
Miroku laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh, it was dry and humorless one, on which he hardly ever used. "No demons are good. They are all beasts who lust for human blood, wreck villages, and destroy crops. They are no good to any of us. I will never *ever * let Kagome, one of my only true friends, become mixed up with a demon!  
  
Sango instinctively backed away from Miroku, whose voice had risen to a nearly deafening tone. She had never seen him act this way. He had always been a happy person, never truly expressing his emotions that were hidden by his cheery mask. "How can you be so sure? There may be some good demons out there...and he's only a half demon..."  
  
"There are no good demons!" yelled Miroku, his fists clenching and unclenching as memories flew through his mind.  
  
~ He was a toddler watching in a corner as his grandfather fought, and lost a battle with the humanoid demon, earning himself a cursed hole in his hand...a year later he watched as the giant tornado-like wind tunnel devoured the old monk alive, taking him from this earth and leaving his child (Miroku's dad) with the cursed hole...he was in his early teens, watching as his dad was also swallowed up by his own hand, taking his mother with him and leaving the cursed hole to his traumatized son, to him...that demon ruined his family's life. ~  
  
Sango watched in half fear, half concern. Miroku seemed to be thinking...thinking about something that obviously caused him deep pain. "Are, are you all right?"  
  
Seeing the slightly fearful look on Sango's face, Miroku forced himself to calm down. He looked up at her, and put a false, cheery face on. "I guess that we could go check on Kagome," he said quickly, giving in to Sango's wishes, not wanting to confront his feelings. He turned and exited out of his room.  
  
Sango followed him. 'I'm glad that everyone's gone to visit their grandpa again. The only one that's still here, other than Kagome, Miroku, and me, is Kikyo, and I haven't seen her all night. If everyone was still here they would start to wander what we're doing.' She and Miroku reached Kagome's door, and Miroku knocked on it lightly.  
  
"Kagome," said Miroku, listening intently for any movement.  
  
There was no reply, only the chirping of some kind of bird outside.  
  
Miroku closed his eyes and tried to pick up Kagome's spirit. (Which is very easy to find, Miroku knew: she had a very large soul) He found no trace of her being there. He cursed himself for not putting a barrier around her room to force her to stay in there.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Kagome sat comfortably, her head in the crook of Inuyasha's neck and Inuyasha's head on her own. They had been like that for over an hour. Inuyasha had his eyes closed, and his breathing was slow and rhythmic. He was asleep.  
  
She shifted her legs a little, trying to rid them of the cramps they were developing from staying in one position for so long. She finally found a good position when she heard a small noise coming from the tree that she was under. She stiffened, and listened intently.  
  
Their was a loud CRACK from the tree, and what looked like a small ball of fluff fell right next to with a 'umph'.  
  
Kagome looked at the small, moaning creature. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark, and she could easily see it. It appeared to be hurt from the fall, and she was never one to let anything be in pain. She timidly raised her arms from her lap and picked up the creature, making sure not to move her head much. She didn't want to wake up the hanyou, who was still sleeping like a log despite the loud crack of the now broken branch. Her eyes widened as she took a good look at the apparently unconscious kit in her arms. 'It's a fox demon! Wow! I've heard so much about them. They are supposed to be very tricky, always transforming into humans and tricking villagers. This one only looks like a baby though. It's so cute!'  
  
The fox child shifted in her arms, and slowly opened its large, bright blue eyes. When its vision came into focus, it let out a little squeak and jumped out of her arms.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Shippo accusingly, staring from Kagome to the sleeping Inuyasha.  
  
She stared quizzically at the little fox for a while, then answered his question. "I'm Kagome, and you?" 'Boy, now I'm talking to demons as though I talk to them every day!"  
  
"I'm Shippo, one of the strongest demons in this forest!" he said proudly, puffing his tiny chest out and looking extremely proud of himself.  
  
Kagome covered her mouth to smother the small giggle that was bubbling up inside her. "Nice to meet you Shippo," she said softly, offering her hand to the small fox.  
  
Shippo looked at her as though she were crazy. In all of his short life he had never encountered a demon and human shaking hands. She seemed nice enough though...it wouldn't hurt anything to shake hands with her, would it? He slowly extended his small arm and clasped hands with hers.  
  
Kagome smiled. "So, Shippo, what are you doing here?"  
  
Shippo pointed a small finger in the direction or the sleeping Inuyasha direction. "My dad told me to wait in the tree for him."  
  
"He what?"  
  
"My dad, he told me to wait for him in the tree!" said Shippo brightly, still pointing.  
  
"Your dad!?" exclaimed Kagome, hitting her head against Inuyasha's.  
  
"Owww," muttered the hanyou, rubbing his abused head and looking around blearily.  
  
"INUYASHA!" yelled Kagome, glaring at the hanyou turned human accusingly. "You have a child!?"  
  
Inuyasha was tempted to cover his ears at the high shrill of Kagome's voice. "No! I do not have a pup!"  
  
Shippo looked at Inuyasha with an extremely hurt look on his face. "But-but dad..."  
  
"I am not your dad!" yelled Inuyasha, who was deeply confused by the turn of events. First he was peacefully asleep, using Kagome's soft hair as a substitute pillow. Now he had a bump on his head and was being accused of having a pup!  
  
Seeing how Inuyasha's words had hurt the kit, Kagome gave Inuyasha a withering glance and grabbed Shippo. She held him into her chest in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.  
  
It apparently worked, because Shippo snuggled closer to her and smiled. "Will you be my mom?"  
  
Taken aback by his question, and not knowing where his real parents were, she just sat there in slight shock. She didn't want to disappoint him by saying no, so she just stroked his hair gently, hoping that was good enough.  
  
Inuyasha stared at the two in slight jealousy and confusion. When had he become the bad guy? She was mad at him when Shippo said he was his dad, and she was mad at him when he denied it! Women!  
  
Kagome looked down at the kit that lay against her and noticed that he was amazingly already asleep. Then she looked up at Inuyasha, who was now standing. "What is this all about?" she asked, gesturing toward Shippo.  
  
"I saved him from a worm demon yesterday. He apparently has no parents so he's been clinging onto me ever since."  
  
Kagome nodded her head in understanding. She felt a pang of sympathy for the poor kit. She then realized how hard it would be to live a demon's life. It was either kill or be killed in their world.  
  
She looked around and spotted something white lying on the ground. It was the bread that she had brought for Inuyasha and the fish! She slowly got up and walked over to it, careful not to wake up the slumbering fox in her arms. She picked the bread up and wiped the dirt off of it. It still looked good enough to eat.  
  
She brought it to Inuyasha, who had his arms crossed and an eyebrow cocked at her. She held it out to him.  
  
Inuyasha gave her a questioning look before taking the item from her hand. He sniffed it, and then looked at Kagome in confusion.  
  
Kagome smiled at him and laughed lightly. Did he really not know that it was food? "You eat it, silly!"  
  
Inuyasha glared at the bread. He had never eaten anything except meat and wild nuts and berries. Seeing Kagome's hopeful look, he slowly lifted the bread to his mouth and bit off a small piece. His eyes widened. It tasted...it tasted great! He took a much larger bite, and then another, and within the span of 20 seconds he had eaten the whole loaf.  
  
Kagome goggled at him, her mouth slightly open. He had eaten that fast, and he was in his human form!  
  
Inuyasha gave her a large grin. "You definitely need to get some more of that for me!"  
  
Kagome returned the smile and motioned for him to sit down next to her once again.  
  
Inuyasha was about to when, even without his sensitive hearing, he heard something coming in their direction.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
* Hides under a rock* Yeah, I know, that was the worst ending to a chapter, but I wasn't sure how to phrase things. It was also short, the night isn't even over! Sorry! I should be getting my computer back soon, so I'll dish out some larger chapters then. For all of you who are waiting for me to update survivor, you're coming next! I'm gunna get started tomorrow! I really want to thank all of my faithful readers and reviewers! ^_^ You guys rock! 


	13. Kouga

I do not own!  
  
I read over the last chapter and I'm like "Wahhhhh!" I didn't realize it was that short! I'll try to make this one longer for y'all! Oh, and I'm so sorry for the lack of updates. I truly am. All of my first supporters came from this story. ;; I feel so guilty for not updating much.  
  
Oh, and I just realized that I've been spelling Shippou wrong. I was spelling it Shippo. Oh well. Thank you for helping me, Sarah!  
  
Review responses-  
  
Thank you- rads, tylai, tiger, Mini Nicka, animemistress419, and Randomunit02 for reviewing.  
  
Kostos- Well, I finally got it into my little brain that you are Sarah. I was so confused for a little while. Don't be too impatient, my little beta. You and your friends have to be patient with my lazy self.  
  
Destiny- It is hard to believe that Shippou considers Inuyasha his papa. I updated! It wasn't exactly soon, but I did it.  
  
KenshinOtaku- I'm glad that you didn't think that my ending was too bad. I personally thought it blew, but you gave me confidence that it wasn't the worst. Here's the update for ya.  
  
viv- Did you review twice, or were their two vivs? Oh well. I'll take your advice into account. You did give me some inspiration. Thanks. Any ideas are always a help.  
  
JoJo10-I know that I checked out one of your stories a loooooong time ago. I'll check them all out when I get the time. Thanks for the review. Your reviews help me get off of my lazy bottom and get some ficage done.  
  
LazyLyndsay- You are a strange little reviewer. Thanks for taking the time out of your life to drop me a review.  
  
Dragon Man 180-Yeah, Kag is slowly warming up to demons. I though Shippou was cute when he called Kagome his mom too.  
  
Seida02- Good suggestions. They did inspire me, but I kinda branched off the Kouga thing. Thank you, and keep up the suggestions.  
  
Inu-babe666-I'm glad that you think that it was a good addition to the story. I didn't quite update too soon, but I got the job done!  
  
-  
  
Inuyasha was up in a blink of an eye, standing protectively in front of Kagome and Shippou. "Who's there?"  
  
A tall, young wolf demon with piercing blue eyes and a long furry tail made his way through the brush with a large smile on his face. "Well, if it isn't mutt-face gone human!"  
  
Inuyasha made a sound akin to a growl. He cursed his weak human state, knowing that he couldn't win a battle in his predicament. "What do you want, Kouga?"  
  
"To kill you, of course." His eyes gave a small flash of red, showing his lust for shedding Inuyasha's blood.  
  
Kagome laid the sleeping Shippou carefully on the ground before going to Inuyasha's side, sending the wolf demon a heated glare. "You touch him and you're as good as dead, wolf."  
  
Inuyasha gave Kagome a disbelieving look. His heart raced at the fact that she would fight on his behalf, but it also raced because he knew that she would get hurt in a fight against him. Kouga was extremely fast, and although he acted airheaded at times, he could be cleaver. "Kagome, stand back. This isn't your fight."  
  
She stayed put, her muscles tight and ready to attack the wolf at any second.  
  
Kouga's smile widened. What would be better than stealing his enemy's woman? She was quite good looking. He could always feed her to his tribe if he got bored with her...  
  
Before anyone could see what happened, Inuyasha was thrown to the ground with a huge gash in his stomach and Kouga was holding Kagome by her arms, which he firmly held behind her back.  
  
"So long, dog breath. I hope you die from blood loss."  
  
Inuyasha tried to get up and lunge at him, but Kouga had already left, leaving a small tornado of spinning wind behind.  
  
"Kagome!" he screamed in fear and frustration. He punched the ground, earning himself pain in his knuckles to go along with the pain in his belly.  
  
He gingerly touched the spot on his stomach where Kouga's claws had ripped into him, and winced at the sharp spasm of pain that surged through his body. The cut was deep, and blood was spilling in a small fountain of droplets onto the forest floor. He looked over to check on Shippou, but the small kit was nowhere to be found.  
  
Inuyasha tried to get up again, but fell down instantly in pain. "Damn my human form!"  
  
Inuyasha seethed, angry with himself for being so weak and especially angry with Kouga for taking his Kagome. His Kagome? He was starting to get very possessive, wasn't he? "I just hope the sun comes up soon, or we'll both be in trouble."  
  
-  
  
Kagome watched the scenery blur as she was carried away. She tried to concentrate on making some kind of barrier or fire, but Kouga was going so fast that she was finding that using her powers was next to impossible.  
  
Rage pounded through her veins, as it never had before. She was sure that the wound that the wolf demon had given Inuyasha was fatal, and would kill him if not treated quickly.  
  
In only a couple of minutes, she found herself being flopped on a hay- strewn floor. After coming over a wave of nausea, she was able to see her surroundings. She was in a large cave that was currently holding at least a hundred wolves, and even more wolf demons. They were all giving her predatory looks, as though ready to attack her at any moment.  
  
Kouga turned to his fellow demons, and glared at them menacingly. "She's not for eating-," He paused when they all gave groans of disappointment. "Yet." Their groans turned into loud whoops.  
  
He turned to Kagome, his blue eyes looking into her brown. His eyes then slid down to her neck. "What's that thing around your neck?"  
  
Kagome lifted her hands and touched the jewel, feeling its power radiating through her palms. She could concentrate now, and she planned to use it to her advantage. She took her hands away from the jewel and held them out, palms up. She allowed her rage to flood through her, feeding the magic within. Small, icy blue flames soon came from each fingertip, growing rapidly.  
  
Instincts telling him to run, Kouga stepped back. His blue eyes wide in surprise.  
  
Kagome's eyes burned icy blue with a malice that would have scared a demon a dozen times his size. The only thing that ran through her mind was how she had to get back to Inuyasha, and nothing was going to stop her. Not even a tribe of wolf demons.  
  
"I told you that if you even touched Inuyasha that you were as good as dead." The balls of blue flame on her fingers, each larger than her head, expanded. "I don't intend on breaking my word."  
  
She released the flames, sending the balls of fire in every direction. The whoosh and crackles of the flames, combined with the cries of pain and yelps was so deafening that she was tempted to run to a corner and cover her ears. She sprinted out of the cave, stepping over bloody wolf corpses and avoiding the panicked wolf demons as they ran in every direction.  
  
Small rays of sunshine peeked out of the horizon and glazed across her face, giving her raven locks a golden shine. 'I'm coming, Inuyasha.'  
  
- Shippou sniffed the ground for any traces of Kagome. He rubbed his head, finding that a small bump was starting to form.  
  
He had grabbed onto Kouga's tail when the wolf had started to take off with Kagome. Although he had held on with all of his might, Kouga went too fast, and his little hands couldn't keep a good grip.  
  
So, he had landed headfirst on the ground.  
  
Finally catching Kagome's scent, the kit looked at the direction that it was coming from. It was still fairly dark out, only a small glimpse of the orange and yellow sun peeking out over the trees. He could tell that to woods got darker where Kagome had been taken. 'Her scent is faint. Kagome must be far away.'  
  
His mind determined on reaching his new mom, Shippou puffed it tiny chest out and walked onward, into a more dense part of the forest.  
  
The trees were all hunched over, as though trying to reach down and grab you. Shippou whimpered and started running faster, still following the trail of Kagome's scent, which only got stronger with every step.  
  
After a while, he was sure that he was very close to where Kagome had been taken. He could clearly smell her, and the stench of many wolves. He looked up and saw a large cave that contained the smells. He wrinkled his nose in disgust, and was about to charge ahead, but there was a loud crack that rumbled the rocks beneath him followed by many high pitched yelps.  
  
The kit's eyes widened in surprise. He looked at the cave entrance and saw Kagome run out. "KAGOME!"  
  
She turned toward the voice and saw the little kit bouncing up and down in happiness. "Shippou!"  
  
Kagome climbed down the rocky wall and ran towards the kit.  
  
Shippou ran towards her too, and jumped into her chest. She hugged him tightly, but soon loosened her grip on the small fox demon. "How did you get here? Oh well, that doesn't matter. Shippou, you need to lead me back to Inuyasha. He's hurt."  
  
-  
  
"I don't know if we should be going into the woods when it's this late," said Sango in a quiet whisper. She wasn't all too thrilled at having to drag Kagome back again. She had a feeling that if she took her away from the half-demon that she had befriended for a second time, Kagome might never forgive her.  
  
Miroku gave Sango a dry look, though she couldn't see it through the veil of inky darkness that surrounded them. "Kagome shouldn't have either, but now that she has, we have to find her.  
  
"Well, how are we supposed to find her if we can't even see a foot from our faces?" Sango shifted the giant boomerang on her back, which felt heavier than normal because of her tiredness.  
  
"I'll conjure some light with my staff when we get farther into the forest. I don't want to attract the villagers attention."  
  
They heard the sound of the creek's waters and knew that this was the spot that they had been earlier with Kagome. Miroku held his staff out, conjuring a small ball of purple light. He grabbed the ball of light and held it up.  
  
On the ground, right in front of them, was a bloodstained human. He was lying with his face in the dirt. He let out a small moan.  
  
Taken by surprise, Sango gasped and backed away. Miroku, keeping his calm, collected mask, turned the human over.  
  
Sango gasped again. "It's the hanyou from earlier, Inuyasha!"  
  
Miroku inspected his face, which was coated with blood, and saw the same features of the demon Kagome liked. The only difference was the now black hair, clawless nails, and his dark, glassy eyes that were staring unseeingly up at them. "I don't know what happened to him. I know that since he's hanyou, he has a human night, and this must be the night. I can't sense Kagome anywhere. What ever it was that injured him must have taken her somewhere."  
  
Sango's eyes watered at the thought of her friend being eaten by some demon. "What are we going to do?"  
  
"We're going to go find her."  
  
"What about him?" She pointed to the barely breathing Inuyasha. "We can't just leave him like this...Kagome would be heartbroken."  
  
Miroku was about to tell her to leave the demon when a small ray of sunshine broke through the trees, and into his eyes, momentarily blinding him. He put a hand up to his head, shielding his eyes.  
  
"Miroku! Look!"  
  
He looked down, his eyes widening.  
  
Inuyasha's hair was slowly turning from jet black to pearly white. His dull fingernails lengthened into razor sharp claws, and his dark violet eyes changed to a honey golden color.  
  
Inuyasha slowly regained consciousness. He blinked owlishly for a few seconds, but when his memories came flooding back to him, he jumped up and latched onto the monk's robes, ignoring the pain in his stomach. "Where's Kagome?!"  
  
-  
  
Well, my faithful readers and reviewers, I have completed another chapter for your reading pleasures. I wasn't even going to write for this story for a while, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging.  
  
Review?????? 


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